Familiar of Zero a New Horizon
by flaming hunter
Summary: A new age has begun
1. Chapter 1

In a hidden room within a nameless castle, a man sat on a single wooden table, the five candles that light the room, cast a light mist to surround them.

The man begins to inhale as he waits, hearing a slight click, he said, ''Well''

Several sheets of paper fall in front of him.

''There are several groups, they distinguish themselves by the emblems on their cloaks or wristbands.'' a man says before pausing and taking a deep breath, as if not believing what he was about to say.

''The entire land has been divided into eight different kingdoms, Albion is currently going thru a massive change. The people are currently getting used to having the Beast Men and Elves now living amongst them.'' He let his words set in.

''Reconquista and its soldiers have all been defeated, any of the remaining nobles have either been brought into the fold and the Commoners within the defending army have been returned to their families or allowed to leave.'' He pauses, as the man pikes up the sheets of paper.

''Silver Sword has taken the Northern region, the coldest area within all of the kingdom. They act as guards, watching for giants and ice creatures, the likes of which we have yet to even categorize.

The castle they hold is an ancient broken down one, remnants from the time the land was first colonized. Thirteen days ago it was little more than a castle with broken worn out walls, fallen because of the lack of maintenance, wildlife, and the sheer cold climate."

''And they have to rebuild nearly all fit again. Their leader is an n Elf, his name has yet to be known..."

'What about the one that leads the assault on Reconquista'' The man seated at the table asked.

''We know little but it was enough, it's a small force twitch roots run deep. Their leader Shiroe a half-elf, is well respected by nearly all of the separate empires, that have been spinning up.  
They call him The Villain Behind Glasses and it is said that if he wants you gone, there is nothing that will save you.''

The beast man Nyanta is a wear cat. His sheer speed kept nearly every soldier away from him, while simultaneously striking at several soldiers bodies. We're certain that if he wanted to kill them, then none of those men would have lived.''

''Naotsugue, the group's ties to the leader of the Crescent Moon, another group one that serves as keepers of any unwanted or orphaned children.

The other group is Silver Sword, the woman Tetora. It's said that when she joined Log Horizon, Silver Sword became even more friendly. A political marriage, no doubt. ''

''Akatsuki, is a full grown woman despite her size. An assassin, no one saw her coming or going and if she isn't in combat, then unless she's openly walking no none will see her.''

''There are several younger members'' he continued

''Stop for now, what is the church up to?'' the man asked his informant

''They are searching thru ancient archives and forgotten items for any hint of just who are these strangers. They have yet to find anything.'' was the only thing hs informant answered.

As for the surrounding kingdoms, they are preparing themselves to go or invaded.'' The informant said.

''All we can do is wait.'' the man said, as he looked at the papers and them some raid attempts, made by the new invaders...

In the kingdom of Albion, several guild leaders were seated, looking thru all of the paperwork, dealing with everything from the food-water-housing-population census- animal life in the areas they inhabit and even the amount of death that seemed to rise by in number by the day.

The sheer frustration felt by all of them could be felt, simply by the fact that none of them had a single smile on the.

''Okay so, a lot of the farmlands were lost and now we have a huge food shortage.'' said the first

''We had entire hordes of undead walking around, so our people had to go and reinforce the towns that were left unprotected. Not to mention the bandits and rogue familiars running around.'' said the second as she rubbed her eyes.

'' On a plus side the bridges to the small islands near us are done, the problem is that we built some side views for people to be able to look down or just stop and rest.'' added the third.

''So what's the problem?'' asked the first.

''The problem is that Griffins and some dragons have taken over those resting spots and started making their nests there.

The wind stones are holding up without any problems and they don't bother the people. The thing is for some damn reason those things tend to get really irritated when people don't rub their necks or blow on their stomachs.'' answered the third.

'' Interesting, do you think they might be ex-familiars.'' asked the first.

''Could be, that would explain why they are so friendly.'' answered the third.

''On a different note, the people are still getting used to our more exotic members, so it's an adjustment for them but the beats men - elves- dwarves and so on. Except everyone sees them like potential dangers'' informed the fourth.

''Alright the sewer systems and waterways are going nicely, plus the heating systems for the people's homes is starting to catch on, considering just how naturally cold this place is.'' said the fifth.

''The lack of technology is going to be a problem, but thanks to the hardened magic this place has made things a little easier for us and the people." Said the third.

"Everyone here is a representative of every guild in their area, so what do any of you have to add to this meeting.'' he received no answer.

''I see, then we all agree. We continue with our plan, so after we finish fixing up the town's, well begin to try and help build up the schools. Anything that might happen, we either try to help each other or trust in each other's judgment, until our next meeting. '' With that said, everyone left their seats and left the room.

The first sat by himself inside the room all rubbing his eyes, the reason why every representative was trusted to watch over their areas and the guilds within them, along with the nobles and the people.

Was simple.

They were surrounded by entire nations that hated them, simply because they existed. Then there were the nobles if people weren't born with magic, then they were considered below human, not as bad as animals or unwanted creatures. But it was still pretty bad.

Then there were the common people.

The adventurers arrived during a slave uprising, unfortunately. It was a full circle uprising, meaning that the new leaders were becoming just as bad as the old ones and some even treated the people even worse.

Needless to say, one look at the less human looking adventurers and both sides were on them, screaming demons.

Sadly for them, it was essentially every single adventurer, dedicated to defeating them and even if it was two armies.

Meaning they didn't stand a chance.

Unfortunately, as the winners, the land now belongs to them and even if at first it sounded nice, the entire kingdom had been sent to hell and now it was a struggle simply keeping things from falling apart.

The number of orphans was high and unfortunately, Crescent Moon had become a huge landholder because of it. They started off taking in orphaned children- whittled pregnant woman or young mothers that were dying or simply couldn't get by.

When word got around that they kept the people well fed, both cloth and protected them. People began to send all of their unwanted children and some of their elderly.

Food had become hard to come by because of all the fighting, so when a search party found the floating islands filled with fruits and some wild animals.

Groups were sent to get the food, unfortunately, regular people couldn't get to them and the flying ships were all going thru repairs.

So bridges supported by magic wind stones that allowed fight were used to keep said bridges floating.

The hope was to allow the farmers to be able to grow the crops with a little more patience, unfortunately collecting the food took time and already signs of famine were beginning to show.

There were a lot of areas where fighting was still going on, so several of the combat guilds were kept busy keeping them at bay or simply putting them down.

The Americans were already at war with some of the kingdoms from the other nations/ of this world. It was thanks to them that they were keeping their newly acquired kingdom safe from outside invaders.

Because of the assassins that acted as spies, the Americans were forced to put their differences aside in the name of survival. The fighting to them was even worse, for they had put down the defending kingdom and the rebellion.

While keeping who knows how many different nations at bay.

They gave the people and the nobles a choice, **join us or you can die to each other or be killed by those idiots trying to invade you.**

Those that agreed were left alone and defended whenever something bad happened and those that didn't were either dealt with or ignored when one of the enemies found them

It was cruel, but this is what happens in times of war.

People have started to call them Albion's defense military, it was sad but they're right.

Then there was the issue with the taxes and surprise surprise, the entire thing was corrupted like hell. Food didn't arrive in some towns because of some nobles punishment, other villages were overly taxed and so on.

Now there were the trade deals that the entire kingdom had with the neighboring ones, fortunately, or unfortunately, every other kingdom had cut off their ties to them.

That is all of them except one Gallia. But that was something the villain behind glasses would have to deal with.

[ Speech change Michael]

''Do to the lack of understanding of the surrounding lands\Nations\ Kingdoms, we formally ask for your help.'' A man wearing a black armor read a letter that was handed to him, by a messenger that had arrived earlier.

''I've been called to help with a diplomatic mission. Can I trust you guys not to needlessly hurt people, the man said as he smiled at the people around him. Showing that he was joking with them.

Only receiving a chuckle from the knights and beast-men as a response, he turns to a Half-Elf woman sitting on a chair next to him.

''Come with me miss Tiffania, I know of a place that might be able to help you,'' he said to her, as he walked past his men and opened the door to the interrogation room.

She was a young woman with large breast, that made her tight firm fitting dress seem smaller than what it truly was. Her light blue eyes and warm smile made her extremely attractive, her thin figure and well-placed curves certainly helped make her even more pleasing to the eyes.

Her kind personality and truly naive nature made her an almost ideal woman.

The problem was that reports had come in, in particular, part of a forest no one could manage to remember about the area. It came down to a simple wave of overpowering whatever was in there.

The culprit turned out to be this young woman. She was hiding out in there because of how people here treated the Elves and anyone with elven blood.

She fidgeted under his sight and at times she even seemed as if she would try to hide under the large white hat she was currently wearing.

''I can't guarantee that they will take you in, but it's better than staying in an ongoing combat zone.

However, if you want you can stay here and join us, but I recommend you do try and check them out first.'' He said to her.

She didn't say anything, she only hid under her hat as she pulled it down over the head.

''Can, can I please stay in my cottage home,''Tiffania asked, her words were almost a whisper.

''I'm sorry, but your forests in a hot spot, we don't mind you living there and the nearby villagers have no issue with you, but the thing is. Several infiltration teams from other kingdoms have used your forest in order to attack whenever possible."

"Miss Tiffania, if we were able to overwhelm you. So could they.''' he answered her question.

They arrived near a carriage one that had red curtains, a red cushioned seats and a black horse with white patches on it, that had been prepared for them earlier.

As he opened the door for them to get in and waited for her to get on, he became almost too aware of Tiffany's thick thighs and just how firm they were.

When she was done getting seated, the driver of the carriage spoke.  
''The trip will take two days so please be patient my lord.'

He simply nodded entered and took his seat.

The ride was quiet and uneventful, a curtain dropped on both sides of the carriage, kepping Tiffania hidden from the view of anyone on the outside while allowing them to see him.

The plan was simple, any bandits or anyone targeting him or any other adventurer would take note and most likely attack him now that he was alone.

However, after a few hours, the boredom began to set in.

''Sir it appears that with our current speed we should reach our destination by tomorrow.'' the carriage driver announced.

''Thank you." Was all he said

He turned to look at the young woman and her tired expression and momentarily pondered about a topic they could talk about.

''Would you like to hear a story'' he asked her.

She jumped at the sound of his vice but nonetheless nodded, giving her approval.

'' …. I'll tell you only the part of this story that I know so if you ever want to hear the rest of it, you should try and get it from one of the other Adventurers.''

''Long ago there was a great kingdom, no there was a great world Named Elder Tales and within the world, great heroes lived.

Along with those heroes warriors that could not be permanently killed, fought and protected the people of that world.''

''One day four great monsters rose and unleashed wave after wave against the people, using the people's very souls in order to make even more monsters. So with every person lost a new monster rose.''

''So the warriors joined together and imitated an act that their old enemy used against them. However, they altered it and instead of being limited to a city they would be able to fight on an entire continent.''

''So the plan was a simple strike at the four monsters and hold them off while the heroes and the rest of the warriors took every person away to a safe location. ''

''They fought for days, but it felt like years and died so many times inside the armors that by the end of it. They didn't even know who they were anymore.'' Michael said.

''So what happened'' Tiffania asked him.

''They lost….. So an enchantment was cast, one that took every person and animal away from the world. While leaving the monsters and their allies behind.'' he said before a sad expression took him over.

''How did the story end?'' Tiffani asked him.

''They slept for five days and found themselves in a new world, but the new world was in danger. So the warriors were forced to take up arms once again,'' he answered her.

They sat in silence for a while before Tiffania spoke.

''Mister….. Whats going to happen to me?''

''''Nothing. If Cresent Moon doesn't take you, I'll protect you. But leaving you in the cold would be giving you a death sentence.'' he answered.

''So?'' she began to ask.

''You can stay with me and the rest of the defense force.'' He answered, knowing full well that it wasn't a good answer.

A few hours later they had to stop in order to allow the horse to rest and for them to catch some sleep for the night.

When everyone was asleep, he heard the young woman crying by herself, however, he didn't try to comfort her.

She needed to get stronger, these were hard times and if she couldn't get past this she wouldn't be able to survive the rest of whatever the hell would happen next.

So he just laid there listening to her cry, until she could cry herself to sleep.

[Speech change Tiffania]  
She sniffed while she tried to pretend she was asleep. The two-man didn't move, no the driver of the carriage moved once in awhile, only his soft snoring could be heard coming from him.

The other one, the man with the scary eyes and wearing the black armor, however, didn't make a sound. Then Tiffania felt a hand on her mouth, she felt it tighten the moment she was about to let out a scream.

''Shhhhh…...we're being watched'' the man said to her, his hot breath held no kindness in it.

''When I say three, get the horses and head to the next town, I'll catch up. Tell them the Double Hammer sent you.

He slowly took his hand off her mouth Tiffania for her part could only shake her head as she looked around her but it was so dark she couldn't see anything.

Tiffania however soon wished she couldn't see anything again. As a huge face made itself known, it's crimson red eyes glowing like embers that somehow had smoke coming from them.

Tiffania felt her blood run cold, it was a flame dragon.

''Three'' the man that called himself Doble Hammer said and Tiffania felt herself run almost automatically.

The carriage driver was already untying the horse only for the animals frightened form to violently tear the rope from the man's hands. Tiffania soon stopped running when the animal was out of sight, its frightened screams were lost the farther and farther the animal got.

''Get out of here!'' Double Hammer screamed at them as he stared into the dragon's eyes. The sounds of chains falling son followed the man's voice, as Tiffania and the carriage driver were rendered helpless the moment the dragon roared.

The sound of woosh was heard followed by a cool blue light, that was ignited by a pair of chains held by the man.

And in a moment that would be burned into her memory, Tiffania saw the man whip a pair of battle hammers held at the end of the chains and slam them straight onto the fame dragons head.

The sound of the impact of the hammers hitting scaled shook Tiffa from her petrified form and she immediately felt herself being pulled away by the carriage drivers hands.

They ran the entire night, not caring about bandits or any other kind of wild animal, they only cared about getting away from the dragon's roars or the flames that seemed to rain down after them.

They did this until they couldn't move anymore and it wasn't until the sound of heavy footsteps caught their attention

That the both of them realized that somewhere around their escape attempt they both fell completely unconscious, out of sheer exhaustion and fear.

''Can you walk?'' the man asked her.

But she was so tired, that her own feet could barely hold her own weight, so the moment she tried to get up she immediately fell under the weight of her own body.

''I'll take that as a no." He said as he began to pick her up and carry her like a princess.

The next thing Tiffania knew, was she was the feeling a comfortable bed, a light feather pillow, and a warm blanket.

It took her a moment realize that she wasn't in her cottage and only jumped from her bed when she heard the voices of men.

''So what you're saying, is that even if the coin has more silver or the purity is higher, depending on the emblem of which kingdom is placed on it the coin will increase or decrease in value.''she heard a man say, it sounded like the man that called himself Doble Hammer.

''That is correct, but it's not just the emblem or the purity. Depending on the region, gold can, in fact, be worth less than silver, simply because of just how abundant gold is in the region.

For example, its said that iron can be found in a dessert, that for locals it's practically free compared to anywhere else.'' a woman answered him.

''I see, so depending on the region- the amount- the purity and the emblem of who or what it represents the value decreases or increases. Not to mention, that the amount of faith people have in it, also factors in."

"Ahhh…...This is so unnecessarily complicated,'' he said

A slight chuckle was the immediate answer he received ''Don't worry man you'll get it'' a man said.

''Eventually, in maybe ten or five years added another man before a brief pause and the room was filled with laughter.

''So can you take the girl in?'' Double Hammer asked someone.

''I'm sorry, but we don't have any room for her at the moment'' a woman answered him.

''...I see…..Can I at least count on you to keep an eye on her until I come back'' he added

''That we can do'' another woman answered him.

''So what was so important that you need me to away from the border. Couldn't Silver Sword or the Black Dragons deal with it?'' he asked.

''No, both of them are caught up in some things, plus we simply need someone to watch out for whatever we can't'' another man answered.

''So what's the mission?''Double Hammer asked.

''We are going to ensure our one and only external trade partner that we are going to continue exporting the wind stones they buy from us.'' the man answered Double Hammer.

''I get it, you want me in case things go south….Well, might as well get going'' Double Hammer said, his voice stopping as the sound of chair moving alerted Tiffania that he had gotten up from wherever he was seated.

Tiffania for her part simply stared at the ceiling, wondering what was going to happen to her.

[Speech change Gallia]

''So he defeated a flame dragon single-handedly and is now in possession of a young elf girl.'' Joseph King of Gallia said as he read the most recent report from one of his less than favorable spies.

''It seems he wanted to keep the girl safe, perhaps she's his lover. If the description of her appearance is true then she could be nothing more than his personal toy.''said his familiar.

''True… but I just had an idea. We need both information on the true capacities of the new defense military of Albion and what new toys and skills these people have or are making.

So why not have a willing pawn do it for us and give us a tiny bit of it'' Joseph said as he began to walk the long corridors of his castle.

''So what do you have in mind?'' Sheffield Joseph's familiar asked.

''Simple, we get a pawn that would obey us simply so she could see her daughter."

"One that would do exactly as we say after all the church is already preparing itself to invade, so if Albion falls, the likelihood of her surviving is small,'' Joseph said he opened the door to the room where his ex-sisterrnaw, his deceased brother's wife laid on a bead.

The woman had exhausted itself, her drugged infused madness drove her to unconsciousness once again.

He made his way towards her side and poured a red liquid from a bottle he had inside his coat.

''A trade agreement between kingdoms, sealed by one taking a woman of royal blood for a knight or a king. Who in turn can do whatever he wants with her.'' Joseph said as he watched the antidote, take immediate effect.

The woman's breath slowed until it was perfectly calm.


	2. Chapter 2

[Speech change Tiffania]  
Tiffania wasn't an idiot she knew that they were letting her sleep. The people in the other room had left and she was left completely in silence.

So he was alone with her thoughts, it didn't help that her mind drifted back to last nights dragon and what would happen when her sister went and looked for her in the cottage.

What would happen if she ended up getting attacked or if she tried to fight one of the guards, thinking that they had done something to her?

She felt her tears begin to fall until she finally forced herself off those depressing feelings. Suddenly the sound of a door opening echoed in her room followed by the voice of a young woman.

''Get up, he's going to leave soon. You should say goodbye.'' the woman said to her as she stood at the side of Tiffanias bed.

Tiffania didn't know when she instinctively covered her head with the blanket, but she none the less uncovered herself and saw just who was the woman that was addressing her.

Needles to say Tiffania was caught off guard when the smiling face of an elf stared back at her.

''Hurry Michaels going to leave soon and he's been worried about you.'' the elf woman said to her.

Tiffania could only stare, she had heard of elves fighting alongside the adventurers, but she never expected one of them to be living inside one of the towns.

''You're an elf'' was all that Tiffania said.

The woman just smiled '' So are you and from the looks of it, we both have the same problem.'' the woman said as she pointed at Tiffanias rather a large breast and as Tiffania looked she could see that the woman had a large pair of breast herself.

The woman turned and began to walk out of the room. ''Hurry before he leaves.''

Tiffania followed her and as they left her room, she saw that the only thing in it was just the bed and a small box the size of a small dog. The next room was a kitchen, with a table that held seven chairs placed around it.

The moment they walked out everything changed. Large stone hallways filled with people greeted them. The laughter of children filled the halls as new mothers breastfeeding their infants made the smell of fresh warm breast milk lingerie within the halls.

From one of the window, Tiffania could see a man with blue hair training several young men and boys, as they tried to copy the movements he made.

"We keep children and new mothers on the bottom floors and the elderly on the third, and the fifth floor because they are old and a fall could be fatal so we keep them where our team can see them.

So even if we don't see an accident, the people can keep an eye on each other.''the elf woman said as she explained where the people lived.

Tiffania was startled as a catboy ran past her, followed by a group of children that chase after him, their laughter briefly filled her with joy.

''Your inside a castle that was made by cutting inside a mountain. Sadly it's already filled up. All of this fighting made a lot of orphans and no one would have them." the woman continued, her long hair moved from side to side.

This unwillingly made Tiffania notice the woman's well-formed hips, her blue tight pan, and white coat.

When they finally stopped they emerged on the outside, a small flying ship was being filled with several crates. It was a magic ship one that could fly allowing it to come and go from Albion, as no other way could be used to travel from and go from the flying kingdom.

From how high up they were Tiffania saw that they were surrounded by fields and if her eyes were right, the small specs were the farmers working in them.

Several beasts laid in the grounds below, with several specks jumping and climbing them. This made Tiffania realize just how large the guardian beast was, she was certain that the specs were children.

''I'll come in in a couple of days. I already spoke to a messenger your old home will be turned into an outpost, so you can go back and live in it.  
You're lucky to live so close to a town'' Doble Hammer said as he stood behind her.

His voice startled Tiffania, just when had the man walked up to her.

For some reason as the man walked towards the ship, Tiffania stretched out her hand as if fearful that the man would not come back.

He however never turned back.

Beyond him Tiffania could see a male elf, accompanying him was a knight in heavy gray armor, a cat man dressed as a noble and a small woman dressed in a tight form fitting suit, her eyes showing nothing but discipline.

Next to her, was another woman that seemingly spackled with an unprecedented amount of joy and besides her a woman dressed as a knight.

They soon left and she was left alone in this high castle.

[Speech change Elisabeth ]  
It had been two days after she had awakened and for the first time, she was able to think straight.

It was awful like living inside an endless nightmare, one that had no beginning or end.

Sadly her nightmare wouldn't end as the mad king soon entered her room, her heart sank seen the man's age.

Just how long had she been in that state?

Now she was told that she would be used as a trade wife to help secure the new kingdoms union, something had happened in Albion and from what she was told the commoners had risen up against the nobles.

So they perfumed her bath, tightened her waist, oiled and combed her hair. Decorated her with makeup and chose numerous kinds of undergarments.

Then she was told that an oil would be placed on her, it was an aphrodisiac used by noble to ensure pregnancy.

The two would be locked in a room and it was almost certain that the woman would emerge expecting a child.

She briefly wondered about her daughter Charlotte, but she knew that she was okay far within the Tristian School for Magic.

Her long blue hair was now lightly lifted in a bun, however, it still reached slightly below her waist. Her long blue ladies dress nearly touched the ground and her light blue shoes were comfortable shower just how short she was.

She was expected to give whatever information she could get and if possible sabotage Albion in any way.

Her payment would be her daughter's safety.

The child she was expected to make was nothing more than a security measure, one made just in case they needed some form of leverage.

The few servants still loyal her, had managed to get her as much information as possible and she was startled to do discover that she would be handed over to the brutal guard of the border.

A man who wore a black armor and wielded a pair of heavy twin hammers held together by a pair of heavy chains.

It was he who nearly dealt the killing blow to Prince Wales of Albion.

A brutal man whose armor was said to be bathing blood, a man who had both tortured and killed several assassins sent by several kingdoms and sent back their corpses to their employers.

Most bandits encountered by him, now served under his command, or simply gave up the life of a bandit or were never heard from again.

Albion had become a land sieged by demons, beast men, and elves that now ruled those lands.

Beasts magical and not are said to become a constant problem.

Roge familiars drove made by the forceful breaking of their familiar's contract and wild animals who were driven out by the constant fighting.

Several small towns and kingdoms that had sprung up, were now fortified and from what the papers she was able to see said.

Any large attempts to enter Albion was a death wish. If the defense guard doesn't get you the animals will.

Then there was what Joseph had told her, the few remnants of the nobles and the revels were still fighting against the invaders.

The fighting is said to be so bloody that the land itself becomes almost unusable.

Two days by airship and three by carriage. They were almost at the palace and she would soon begin her new life as the barbarians bed wench.

The sound of the door opening caught her attention, yet she didn't dare to turn around. No instead she opted to see the woman reflection on the window in front of her.

The woman's long black hair and pale skin easily stood out within the room and considering how cool the weather was on the outside, the small white mist caused her reflection to stick out even more.

''Prepare yourself, several nobles will be present tonight. Each one will be there with their daughter-wives- wenches and servants all will be present in order to meet the new rulers of Albion. '' The woman said to her, her voice holding no emotion whatsoever.

She didn't answer.

The woman noticed this and gave a small smile in return.

''Your daughter will be present as well, be sure not to cause a scene….. I'll give you a moment do what you can.'' Sheffield said as she walked up to a large chair, she had present in the room.

It was hard to accept that the woman was the mad king's Familiar. Her tight violet form-form fitting clothes clung tightly to her figure.

This combined with the long robe she wore and the woman's natural youth made the woman quite beautiful.

Yet even as Sheffield sat down and waited she didn't utter a word, she simply looked out the window.

Finally, after a few minutes she spoke, Sheffield for her part didn't even care for her silence and instead amused herself with a group of small bird familiars she herself had conjured up.

So when she spoke, it was interesting to see that Sheffield had actually turned and listened to her.

However, the woman's attention was now fully placed upon her.

''Tell me am I expected to make him and his companions wet am expected to be taken in front of everyone. To be done by all for hundred noblemen, their servants, and, even their beast.

If that man orders me to do it tonight.'' she asked the woman, while attempting to gain some form of information.

The woman just smiled but didn't say anything.

No instead the woman opted to walk up to her until she stood right next to her and look at the same view she was so intensely seeing.

The road leading towards the castle and the arriving nobles.

'' I wasn't aware you wanted to show all of those young men the embarrassing parts of you or is it that you wanted to show off, how good you are at lovemaking," Sheffield answered her.

''...You're in danger whether you stay here or go with that man.'' Sheffield said, before pausing lettingting the words sink in. Her voice this time was low almost a whisper.

''Then what of my daughter? Will she be expected to do the same or will she be handed to a brothel or one of those host men'' she said, hoping Sheffield would give her a little bit more information?

''Your daughter will be here and there, now maybe you'll see her every once in awhile,'' Sheffield answered her question but this time didn't add anything more to it.

A large green carriage pulled by several blood riders made itself known, as it slowly neared the castle grounds.

''Looks like the honored guest has arrived,'' Sheffield said, as she turned and walked out of the room.

The exchange had proven more fruitful than she had expected.

She may be a fallen noble and turned into a barbarians future whore, but she used to be a Duchess and had long learned to read between the lines.

She was in the sight of several nobles, should something happen to Joseph then would be her not his daughter that would take the throne. Before she was insane because of the potion, so killing her was pointless, now, however, she had to die.

Her daughter was safe, considering she was usually away, behind the magic academies protective walls. However since her daughter was not kept there or in the palace by force, she could see her in Albion.

Sheffield was bound by a familiars contract, but she herself had always tried to keep her and her daughter safe. Even if she hardly ever succeeded.

Then there was the number of men she had tossed and the fact that Sheffield didn't correct her. Just what did Joseph plan by exposing Gallia these freaks?

She drew the bottle of oil from the corner of her brassiere and exhaled knowing full well she would soon have to use it.

There was no reason for any other kingdom to take her in and in fact, it did them a greater good to either kill her or force her to bear children.

Children they could use to say that as her infants, they were the rightful heirs to the throne after several mysterious death occurred.

Still, she was confined to her room and any attempts of her to escape would bring the knights right to her.

Yet what were the nobles thinking by coming here?

No, she, knew what they were thinking, ay possible deniability was lost the moment the freaks had landed in Gallia.

Even if they had not come, the church would hang them and their families for not acting against the crown, who they would say had turned against the funder.

It was most likely that they wanted a glimpse of the ones responsible for all but eliminating two armies and conquering a kingdom in a span of a few months.

Powerful rules in case of a war and even more possible business partners considering Albion was completely alone. They would need help with the reconstruction of their kingdoms and settlements.

Food- oils-spices- wool- clothes -food- seeds- livestock and more had just opened up for exportation, for whoever could catch the diplomats attention.

Not to mention the magic stones from Albion and any of the mystical weaponry that could be acquired from the newcomers.

Truthfully had this been any other location she herself would be amongst them hoping to prove that doing business with her was a better option than anyone else in the room.

Still, things were happening, as she saw the carriage finally stop and the door open.

The party was scheduled for tonight so that the nobles could mingle amongst each other.

She knew what it really was however as several young women and young men had been brought in with the people that lived in the lands.

They were to enjoy themselves with the common people and relieve the stress of the ride there.

Noblemen and woman would take their pick and enjoy themselves without guilt, after all, it isn't cheating when their partner was fully aware and the king had fully allowed it.

This way deals could be made without worrying about being interrupted.

The first to emerge was a small girl, wearing a tight purple sit, the these her shoulders but for some reason covered her entire arm except for her fingers. She wore a red scarf aroundound her neck, light armor covered her knees and parts of her arms.

A pair of katanas hanged from her waist. The girls long purple hair made her look like a child when it was combined with her short undeveloped body and him smhimth peach colored skin.

But her eyes, those were the eyes of someone that already seen blood.

For some reason, she felt as if she was already seen, long before the small woman had exited the carriage.

One word escaped her lips ''Assassin'' it was automatic, almost as if something had forced her to announce what she saw.

The next to walk out or should she say jump out was a man wearing a heavy gray\silver armor, she could see an excessively heavy shield being casein the man's back, his short black hair peach skin and smiling face made the knight seem friendly.

The next one wone an Elf and she could feel herself hold her breath at the sight of one so close to the castle, he worewog white robe, the kind used by certain sages above a light brown coat.

His trousers were a mixture of two kinds of blue a darker color above his knees and stood near his waist and a lighter shade below his knees.

His footwear was obviously meant for endurance as the light brown shoes he wore, had the obvious signs of being reinforced.

His short dark blue hair, peach skin, and youthful figure made him seem quite young, but any doubt that he would be negotiating went out the window.

When she looked in t his eyes, there was a sharpness ther the kind one saw, when a cat has cornered a mouse.

His big thin, spectacles did help keep the farce of innocence, but one look at those eyes and what little illusion they did fell apart, making way to the truth.

This man is dangerous.

The next to emerge as a man dressed in black armor and she felt her heart almost stop.

Dressed in smooth black armor, short black hair- light tan skin- a pair of heavy hammers carried on his back with a pair of silver chains held onto his wrists.

The look of his eyes was a kind one, a far cry from the beast that was becoming well known thru Gallia.

The final one was a blond woman dressed in silver armor, her long blond hair and deep blue eyes, find a figure made her seem like a noble.

''A Knight of Izumo'' she said to herself.

The Knights of Izumo, are powerful lords that govern their lands alongside with several of the original nobles of Albion. They are said to be good rulers and some are even said, to have taken the daughters of the nobles as their own.

Others fully took command of those lands, when the nobles prove themselves to be so corrupted in their own self-interest that they would have let all of their people starve to death or fall to the bandits or wild beasts.

She briefly wondered to herself if this was either a diplomatic mission for a future trade or a meeting between military generals discussing just who to invade next.

Each one of the newcomers carried themselves as experienced fighters, every step signal a feeling of authority, one only acquired after a time within the military.

She could feel the tingling feeling of fear between her legs and within her womb, the one in black armor signaled something else.

She couldn't put it into words, but it was the feeling akin to the one got when a wild beast was about to attack or when a blade was near one's throat.

She could already see several of the servants driven to their knees when the man approached.

She watched as his companions were led in and when he himself stopped and held a servant to his feet.

She cast a brief spell as one that would allow her to hear what he said, his voice would be carried by the wind and would end near her ears.

'Take a deep breath slowly, if you don't you'll keep falling'' Doble Hammer said to the servant, before leaving the panting man behind.

A few hours passed and a servant brought in a report, apparently, two of the Freaks had stayed behind to guard the flying ship.

A cat man, dressed like a noble and fool dressed in far too revealing clothing, that if she were to be taken by the sailors, the knights or even that freak of unnatural nature, that accompanied them.

Then it would be her fault.

The sounds of music and the cheerful conversation soon reached her not so isolated room. The party had begun and when the music ended, she knew what had begun.

However, she was startled to discover that she was no longer alone.

A small girl hung from the ceiling watching her and had it not been for the years she had been forced to learn how to stay calm under pressure, then she would have yelled out of fear.

''So, you're going to stay here while everyone enjoys themselves'' she said to her.

''...I am not such a loose woman,'' she answered the small girl.

''I was told that they were all being paid and that you Nombles like keeping your get-togethers in private.'' the girl answered her.

''...'' she didn't say anything.

Yet the young girl in turn only dropped gracefully from her sealing, landing directly in front of her.

''So you haven't answered my question, are you going to stay here all day?'' the small girl said to her.

She didn't say anything, no all she could do was look into the girl's dark eyes.

They were cold, calculating as if she was analyzing everything about her. Every breath she took was carefully calculated and memories and when she swallowed heavily the girl moved her head slightly.

Like if she had accomplished her goal.

''No, I'll stay here for today,'' she answered the small woman.

The small girl broke eye contact and made her way out of her room, her face showed a hint of disappointment.

Just when had the small woman entered her room, then her eyes fell on the two katanas held by the girl.

Any doubt she might have had was dispersed. Albino's assassin had made herself known and had sent her a direct message, she was now under her watchful gaze.

A target should she prove herself to untrustworthy, or simply tried anything at all.

After that incident, nothing else of any note happened. She had expected to be called, but the call never came before she knew it she had found that she had stayed awake through the entire night.

The next day however when the servants had come in, to take her to her morning bath, she saw just why she hadn't been summoned.

Several crates of magic stones had been brought in, possibly thru the back entrance considering she had never seen them arrive.

Not only that but entire crates, filled with fresh food were being loaded along with several expensive looking furs and if she hadn't looked closer a couple of small animals like dogs and cats.

It was only after she began to undress that the last piece of information her servants had managed to get for her was handed to her.

The negotiations had ended and the mad king had managed to carefully word the foolish barbarian into taking her as his bed wench. Unfortunately for the nobles, the freaks were to leave this very moment and it would be only after she finished her bath.

The moment she was done undressing, that she found that Sheffield was waiting for her at the baths entrance. The woman didn't say a word she only turned around and went into to the mist-filled room.

It was there that she saw why the woman was present.

There sitting in the warm water, was a young woman with short blue hair and a pair of red glasses looking straight at her. Instantly she knew who this girl was, it was her daughter Charlotte, her daughter.

In an instant they found themselves embraced each other's arms.

However the moment they tried to say anything Sheffield coughed and placed a finger near her lips, signaling to them that Joseph didn't know about their encounter.

The woman had acted in secret, giving them this moment of closure.

''I hear that Albion is pretty cold, so when you go there wear something arm'' Sheffield said to them.

The understanding in both hers and her daughter's eyes, the woman had just told her where her mother would be.

So the simply held each other and tried to convey all of their feeling to one another.

It would be only after a few hours after she had let go of her daughter and she was perfumed, oiled and dressed that she realized just why had her servants been able to gain the information they had.

He had allowed it, each one of them was present within several different carriages, along with their families. Their loyalty to her had cost them dearly and now they were being exiled away to some unknown lands controlled by Elves and beasts.

Any hope of ever coming back was lost and Sheffield would be all but powerless in aiding her any more than she already had.

The carriage ride was faster than she had anticipated and it took only two days to reach the place where the airship awaited their return and it was unusual they hardly ever stopped.

The only time any rest was in order for them to stretch their legs.

The horses didn't even get any more rest than those few hours, they traveled the rodes both during the day and the night. When she finally laid eyes of the airship was somewhat confused.

It had three iron cylinders one on each side and another at the very front of it, each one that was on the ship's was was as long as the ship itself, while the third was smaller around the length of a small lions size.

Still, she couldn't take in anything or was it better to say that she couldn't wrap her mind around the thought that the last few days of road and now the sight of the port would be the last she would see of her homeland.

The way that Joseph had used her to root out those still loyal to her and the fact that she had been confined to her room, left completely in the dark as to people's customs and because of that the few people she still knew where turned into little more than hostages.

Ahoy!''said a cool voice, the kind one expected to a high born noble.

Murmurs began to sound all around her and when she turned to look, she saw a cat dressed like a noble. fatface seemed to be smiling.

He wore a pair of white gloves ohim him for covered hands, a pair of long brown boots with the tips cut off allowing his paws on its feet to touch the bare wood.

Twin swords accompanied by a pair of rapier hung from the brown leather belt that was attached to the gray trouser cover covers the cat mans privates.

A green coat over a white dress shirt, which in turn had a red scarf covering its chess only letting a slight glimpse of the fur on the cat's neck.

The cat's fur was a deep black with several patches of white all over it.

The cat man waved at them, welcoming them all aboard.

Yet when she was about to react, she found that she jumped at the sound of a woman's voice from the inside of her carriage.

There sitting across from her was a young girl with pink hair a small top hat and extremely short treasures, that if they were any shorter her but wud be exposed for everyone to see.

She wore a white dress shirt a black vest and matching black gloves.

This woman wanted to be seen, almost as if she was hellbent on having everyone's attention on her.

''So you're coming with us.'' the woman said

She didn't answer, her thoughts were instead focused on just how the woman had entered. After, all, she was completely alien to the carriage.

''Ye…..yes'' answer.

The woman simply smiled ''Oh where are my manners, my name is Tetora, whats yours'' the woman said to her.

''Elizabeth, I am the companion of the one you know as Doble Hammer''she answered Tetora.

''Companion humm''Tetora said, as she hummed to herself.

''You do know he already has a son and what I hear he stole his new aalaaalddday,'' Tetora said to her.

This was news to her and it confirmed she was to be the man's bitch and nothing more. She was about to say something when the woman began to run her mouth again.

'Don'tworry, no one knows who is Jose's mo and the Elf is probably just another refugee he took in.''Tetora said

For some reason, she felt herself releasing a breath she didn't know she had. She wouldn't be just a bed wench, a bastard and nothing more than a common whore.

''Can you tell me. How is Albion, what is it, like,'' she asked Tetora?

The woman's smile fainted slightly.

"It's getting better, all of the fightings really did a number on the place, but the night is almost over and we're going to see the new, day,'' Tetora said with a voice that seemed to grow in amusement.

After a few minutes they were all aboard the flying ship and set course to Albion, as she exited her carriage, she could see her servants were headed to an area of the ship.

''Go he's waiting for you.'' Tetora, said as she signaled her to follow the servants.

As the servants gathered in front of the man she now knew was named Michael, she could see the man's cold harsh eyes look unto the people in front of him. There was no kindness there only endless ice was present in his eyes.

''I'm sorry, you all belong to me, now,'' Michael said as he waited for the people's reaction. Yet when there was none he continued.

''From here on out, all of you will be expected to do as you always have, however you will also be given some training, that way you can defend yourselves.

Should the situation ever be needed for that training, trust me you'll be glad you knew how to hold a knife or a sword.'' Michael said to them.

''Take the time you're on this ship to used to the idea'' Michael said, before waving at the people in front of him signaling to them they could leave.

''Lady Elizabeth please this way'' he said to her and she found herself startled at the sound of his voice.

She followed him into a small room where the captain would normally have his study. The moment the door closed behind them was the moment she felt his cold hands on her arms.

She could feel the fear between her legs and realizationtion slowly hit her that he was looking straight into her eyes.

She noticed that she was breathing heavily and quickly, fear took taken over and all she wanted to do was run away. Yet the more time passed the more she realized that his cold cruel eyes, were now soft and held a hint of worry in them.

He took her into a deep hug and held her softly.

''Relax'' he said softly to her.

''I won't do anything to you.'' he continued, his voice as soft, and she soon found herself crying in his arms.

They stayed like that for who knows how long.


	3. Chapter 3

[Speech change Tyffania]

Tiffania stood humming to herself as she carried an infant in her arms.

The boy had been crying ever since she arrived for the morning shift. Ever since she was left behind in the Crescent Moon Palace, she was put to pick up her own weight and it was for that same reason that a little boy took her hat off.

Instinctively she fell into a fetal position while trying to cover her elf ears.

Needless to, say, the boy returned her hat while apologizing thr when she looked around no one was really looking at her and those that did simply said to themselves that she must be another adventurer similar to the Leader of the Crescent Moon.

The moment the new mothers both of which either were expecting or already had children looked at the size of her breast did they actually have a look of realization and immediately ignored her.

They thought she might be related to the Guild leader and so they simply choose to leave her alone.

Her recent schedule was now get up early in the morning, help prepare the meals for the children-the elderly and the expecting or the new mothers that had just recently given birth.

In the afternoon she was expected to train with the wolf boy who insisted that if she was going to return to the long watch, then she needed to learn to defend herself.

He also told the truth as to why she was brought here and why Michael had been so protective of her.

The reason was that the fighting had finally reached her forest home and that as the days passed, it was getting even worse.

The border needed a ruler and Double Hammer had all but violently refused.

''A king can't leave the castle unless something big happens.'' the man said.

''My men need me to lead them'' he argued.

It wasn't until his son was born, that the man slowed his pace. Yet when she asked who was the boy's mother, she found that no one knew, not the knights-adventurers or even the people.

Still, Tiffania enjoyed her days inside the castle and how gentle the people were, each one of them was a refugee from somewhere in Albion.

Fathers and sons stayed away from the area's woman and young girls lived and any woman thought she could get away with entering their rea.

Then a member of the Crescent Moon punished them, after all, if the men couldn't do it, then neither could they.

Still, as Tiffania laid the child's sleeping form, she steeled herself. Soon Michael would return and take her along with several of the people back to the border, it was time for them to leave the castle.

Today was the day she and those people would use a large mirror in the dining room to see into the gathered memories.

The mirror was used to take traumatizing memories of the people that came here. They would still have the instincts of something bad happened to them and slowly regain the stolen memories.

It was a way to help people whose minds had been broken, from the events that had happened to them.

The other use was to show people the events that had happened in the past.

She would watch everything that had happened at the border and why they all needed to learn how to fight.

Still even as Tiffania did her morning chores and trained in the afternoon, she felt heartbeat with the sheer nerves nature of what was about to start, that very night.

Finally, it was time and Tiffania found herself accompanied with nearly a hundred men, several women and a numeral number of children.

''Get ready'' said the wolf boy, as a bright flash of white, light, blinded her and the entire world became quiet.

[At the center of Albion]

During this time in the grand palace of Albion, where the original royalty once lived an argument was being held.

It was supposed to be a discussion of what to do and how to govern, between the Adventurers-the people of the Land - Albion's original rulers that had surrendered-the Revels of Reconquista and the New Royals of Elder Tales that now ruled the lands.

The arguing had been long and exhausting by all parties, especially considering that the numbers had all gotten involved, by letter.

The numbers were an elite strike group, something similar to the C.I.A, as the adventures called them.

All of the men were a hairline away from beating each other.

Everyone agreed that Albion needed rulers, but it was almost never agreed as to who, the Crescent Moon Alliance had taken residence in a mountain palace laying claim to its territory and had both defend it, its people and ruled the surrounding lands properly.

That alone infuriated a lot of people, but Adventurers do as they please and anyone to even attempt to do harm to them would earn the ire of nearly all of the northeast guilds and their people.

Such was the influence of the Crescent Moon.

In the Far East, the Chinese- the People of the Land and the Natives of Albion had struck a deal

No king will be present only a bunch of lords. Let the political games show who should rule.

To the West, the Americans fought endlessly, the borders had become lands that only the strongest could endure. It was only sheer luck that the Adventurers that landed there, were the very same that had plunged their lands into constant warfare went they first awoke in Elder Tales.

Three rulers were known and acknowledged by the people if what the letter the numbers had sent was true no one else could rule those lands without starting a full revelation.

Double Hammer; a man responsible for calming some of the fightings Elder Tales. He had done this by repeatedly grabbing Adventurers and letting them starve to death or of thirst and when they came back to life he would do it again until they stopped attacking the people.

It was cruel, but Adventurers didn't stay dead back then.

No, what he was inflicting was psychological trauma on them and his plan worked.

Eisenhorn; to this day the man was proving the worth of his metal. Uncovering long-lost documents that showed underhanded deals by the Nobles and finding hidden research station where monstrous experiments had been conducted.

The memory of the war with the undead sent chills down everyone's spine.

Finally Beatrice; a witch, one of the few nobles that still held the people's loyalty, Time and time again, the young woman had proven herself negotiating trade and leading peace talks between any faction uncovered.

Albion was being cut and its riches distributed, the lands in the center are now held by new nobles and plenty of Guilds that just want to be left alone.

Those guild lands are now miniature kingdoms, they are kept safe by the Adventurers and with them any deserting magician or knight that has gotten tired of all the fighting.

Maps were being changed to fit the new owners and trade agreements were being made, especially now since Gallia had agreed to maintain the basics of it all.

Nobles from their old world, were quick to call prepare their daughters and sons for marriage, to any new noble. While others prepared themselves to be advisers to the Adventurers.

However, when the arguing went down, everyone agreed that by the year's end, prince Iselus would be the one to rule.

The fighting was finally coming to an end and with the wonders, the Adventurers were making, the lands would soon prosper once again.

Still, there was another problem.

The surrounding kingdoms had proven themselves to be no allies of theirs and mercenaries or hellish beings had been uncovered barring some kind of unknown emblem.

After some deeper investigation, by assassins and the number, they had uncovered that the emblems belonged to the surrounding kingdoms.

It made no sense for those to leave their marks on the troublemakers so it was safe to assume that their enemies had planted them.

The problem was, that they had encountered emblems from nearly all of the kingdoms, including their new trade partner.

The few good news was that the south and its flying islands had managed to produce enough food to stay off any famine.

Plus the exaggeratedly large amounts of animals there helped keep the place safe from any invaders or bandits.

The south was now calm and the people are now adjusting to their new lives there.

Silver Sword; watched over the North and that hellish frozen wasteland nothing managed to cross their watchful gaze.

The Lords of the East was now a massive spider web keeping their citizens safe while playing power games and plotting behind each other's backs.

Now as the final letter was read, Michael[Double Hammer ]was put to rule over the border, the other two had taken advantage of his absence to push his position.

Whether he wanted it or not.

Eisenhorn claimed he wanted to continue with information and being a ruler wouldn't allow him any freedom to do it properly.

Beatrice had simply said that she'd been there done that and wanted nothing to do with it.

The west needed a ruler and if what they read was true, it would need one that could defend under constant attacks, coming from the outside.

So they voted and all agreed though no one liked it Michael would be the new lord of the west.

[Speech change Tristian]

Princess Henrieta looked onto her country worriedly as the two moons hung in the sky. She had sent a small force of some of her most trustworthy knights and gunmen to Albion, but she now knew the truth.

Unfortunately, Prince Wales was no longer an option for her to marry, he had lost his kingdom and had lost any claim to any form of royal marriage.

He could still marry the daughter of a Duke or a lord, but any hope for them to be together was now completely lost.

Still, she had sent her men to get him out of there, the country was lost and Albion had fallen to creatures that didn't stay dead.

The creatures that called themselves adventures only died for a few moments before coming back.

Already messengers attempting trade deals sent by the invaders, they were tossed aside under the pretense that it needed to be discussed in detail.

[Speech change Germenia]  
The Emperor watched as the leader of the Black Sword left, the man had proven himself to be of good character and even carried himself with a form of authority.

Still, the man had proven himself in his form of speech, yet he and his companions did not try and secure military assistance.

No, they wanted to ensure Germania's neutrality.

A deal was made a simple one, one that was both meaningless and meaningful all at once.

As long as Albion didn't attack Germania, then no problems would occur between them, no papers were signed it was a verbal agreement. Still, he was contemplating on how to deal with two situations at once.

Albion was lost and it was time to deal with the new rulers, not only that the bitch of his daughter needed to be dealt with.

A smiling green on his face, the Black Sword Knights had proven themselves to usually be seen in combat and according to his spies, they also dealt with peaceful negotiations.

This had only proved the later to be true.

Still, for the moment, he needed to wait and watch how things played out.

Speech change Albion]

Agnes took a deep breath and exhexhaledshe could barely contain her stress, the last few weeks locating, negotiating and simply surviving in Albion was now threatening to overwhelm her and her team.

Arriving at the country had been surprisingly easy.

However, anything simple was the done at the point, their first night was quiet and unusually so, they were just about to set up camp. When a woman made her presence known, instinctively the members that took first watch opened fire, only for the woman's speed to prove itself impossibly quick.

It wasn't until the woman stopped straight in front of one of her companions.

It was then that they saw the woman with long black hair, black fox ears and tail, that seemed to glitter with the light of moons in the sky.

The woman was beautiful and eerily so.

With a single gesture, her entire group was surrounded and disarmed. She simply brought a single finger to her lips and shhhh sound made her party move.

They were immediately searched and when no noticeable markings were found on them, they were considered deserters and told to head south, if they wanted to be safe.

Simply reaching their first contact nearly broke them.

A wall of muskets piled on top of one another, with five more waiting to take their place, two shooters one in front another to replace the shooter and three others waiting to be fired.

There was a man or a woman reloading and preparing the muskets.

''If we run, the infection spreads. Brothers and Sisters, hold the line'' a man said while attempting to keep the people's morale up.

Whether they liked it or not, she and her team were forced to take part in the battle, no it wasn't a battle. It was a one-sided slaughter and nearly all of the defenders died eaten alive by the living dead created by some mad alchemist.

It was there that she and her team saw that the people called adventurers didn't stay dead and with a stream of starlight announcing their return to life hope returned to the commoners.

The sight of that light was the only thing that kept the commoners from breaking and fleeing the battle.

By the night's end and the reinforcements arrived, with the first rays of the sun, did she and her team notice how bad had been their loses.

If it was a hundred men only fifty remained, everyone that wanted to leave was allowed everyone else left with the Adventures into the next war zone.

It had only been their training that had saved them and even then, none of them had left completely unharmed. Some of the men had bites on their arms and legs, other had them dangerously close to their necks.

When they finally reached their contact, they found him in an abandoned village.

It turned out that the people had left when the nobles had begun to take the youth from the villages and put them to fight for them.

The problem was that they were now taking children, the last batch had been only ten years old. In the end, the women decided to take their chances and head to a castle that had been taken over by a group called Log Horizon.

Still, the prince was near a city that was now being fought over and if they wanted to get him out of there they would need a guide.

Lucky for them coins were still worth something here and they managed to bribe a man to let them enter the city.

Lukey the fighting had died down and they had managed to find the prince, unfortunately, the boy had been heavily injured. He had tried to take a port town in order to reclaim the ships in it.

The people had proven themselves to only want to be left alone and had negotiated the ports of neutrality, however, the attempt to get the ships under the nobles control had brought an Adventure to the town.

The details were sketchy at best, but from what she managed to gather. One of the nobles tried to force the Adventurer to join them and when it refused the entire ordeal had gone straight to hell.

After a while, she had a scout, try and piece together what had happened in the country. Tristania would need the information, there was little doubt that if a war started, her home country would be an ideal target.

It was unfortunate that if they wanted to get the information, they would need to get it before the main team left the country, but that meant securing a ship easier said than done.

Smugglers could get you in easy enough, it was leaving Albion that was the issue, mercenaries were coming in and opportunist hoping to get whatever treasures left behind in forgotten towns had made getting a ship, dangerous for anyone.

It was only the fact that their luck had held that the entire team had left Albion with the prince and whatever Nobles and Knights were with him at the time.

From what they had gathered, there were now three great powers in Albion two were simply happy to be left alone and the last was already trying to negotiate peace.

The fighting was only increasing because what remained of Reconquista and the Nobles were now doing their final push.

Unfortunately, after that final push, there was no hope of returning Albion to the way it was and that meant that the Princess would have to say goodbye to her love, they could never be together now.

[Speech change Elizabeth]

After the incident within the office, she had realized that at some point she had found herself lying within a bed, a small servant girl and her mother were her sides.

The young girl and her mother said that when the man emerged he was carrying her in his arms, the remnants of tears still falling from her eyes.

The servants were already whispering among themselves, they had heard her heavy breathing and the sound of her breaking down crying.

It was obvious to assume, that like the bitch she had become, the dog had claimed his prize.

She was a used woman, no longer the widow of the lord they once were so loyal to, yet the man had ordered the two, to watch over her while she slept.

She briefly wondered why had her steel will be shattered so easily,

Yet she instantly knew the answer, not only had Joseph played her so easily by keeping her confined to her room, but he had used her to remove anyone loyal to her late husband and herself.

The Adventurers had proven equally as damaging, not only had they shown that if they wanted to, they could have slight her throat whenever they wanted and that even in her most private moments she wouldn't be safe.

She briefly looked down and checked if the bottom of her skirt was moved or if her undergarments have been put on wrong. Any man would have laid claim to his prize and it wouldn't have surprised her had he laid claim while she was asleep.

Her father had done it several times with lower nobles daughters and continued with the wives of the servants when he wasn't satisfied.

Yet she found that she neither felt herself or her dress and undergarments tainted by any form.

She ordered a change of clothes knowing that the ship would not have a place for her to bathe, however she was denied them.

The man had ordered both women to call him when she woke and it was only then that she noticed that the young girl had left the room.

She tried to hide under the covers, but the man's seemingly piercing gaze showed that he would have none of it.

''We're about to land. Do you think you can walk?'' he asked her, yet all she could do was nod, as she rose she heard the man speaking to both woman.'

''Go back to your families and meet us at the end,' he ordered them.

Yet even the two of them were left alone, he simply turned and walked out stopped and waited for her to follow when he found out she wasn't behind him.

As she walked out, she saw that they had connected to a large castle built inside a mountain, it was cold and windy there.

Yet the sounds of infants crying, children laughing and the roars of several beasts combined with the sounds of men chitchatting amongst themselves mixed in giving the feeling of a merchant village.

Yet as she accompanied the man she found that a small speck, run to his feet and hit himself on the man's armored boot.

The boy was still struggling to walk, so him running was a surprise to Michael and his face showed both his surprise and amusement at the boboy'stactics.

His smile and kind expression was the polar opposite of the man she had seen and read about so much.

Even as he blew on the boy's stomach causing the boy to stop crying and start laughing, did a thought enter her mind.

''This is the Bastard, Double Hammer had. He wasn't his heir, nor was he a true born. This was the one above her future children''

The boy had short black hair, light skin and deep brown eyes, he was the vivid image of his father.

Yet as the boy began to cry, a woman took him from Michaels' arms and immediately began to feed the boy. The woman was shameless and even took delight in displaying her attributes to the Hammer.

''How's your husband'' Michael said to the woman, instantly the woman's smile became strained but none the less answered.

''He's working the fields my lord, our daughter is asleep within the nursery. She and your boy love to chase one another'' the woman answered, before turning to look at her.

Michael took notice of this. ''This is Lady Elizabeth, she will be my companion from now on.''

The woman's eyes hardened, but nonetheless, the introduced herself as Michael's personal wet nurse.

She knew full well what her words implied, the woman was no more than a whore one for his personal use. And just now she had announced what the two of them had mostly done already.

''Michael you're needed in the office.'' a boy with blue hair, wolf ears, and tail both of the same color, said before turning around and leaving.

''I'll be there in a moment. Tell them I have to take care of something here'' Michael answered the boy.

''Ana, follow me,' he orders the whore\the wet nurse

Yet as he turned to look at her, he noticed that both women had returned with a boy no older than eight and an elderly man.

Elizabeth instantly recognized the man, he was her late husband's personal guard.

Before the man was strong now his age had gotten to him and he could hardly walk.

''Follow me'' he ordered them.

Luckily they hadn't had to walk for long, as the office had been near the very entrance.

They had been forced to wait in the halls and it wasn't until Michael's thunderous voice echoed thru them and awaken the infant that had fallen asleep did she realize what was going on.

''I have dozens of men, in combat! We've faced dragons and Zombies that heal their injuries if they're given the chance and they expect me to leave them!"

"So that I can sit on my asass all day!''

''Go back and tell them I said No!'' Michael roared.

''Michael, sit down or you will be held for treason!'' a woman screamed back

''Treason….treason don't make me laugh. Unlike you we don't take kindly to threats'' Michael's voice sounded like the edge of a sword, every word was sharper than the last.

''Tell me what will you do if I gathered all of the Guilds of the west again and declared our independence. Knowing full well what we are capable of and what we have done and what we are still doing!"

"Do you really want to test me,'' Michael said every word was carefully said.

There was a long pause.

''It has to be you. The People of the Land, the Natives and the Adventurers know that you will protect them and that if the situation calls for it, you will even stand against us."

"Should we get to big for our own good.''the woman answered him, any defiance was small yet it was still present.

''All of our predictions show that it had to be one of three and yes they both said no, but even if they had, they both could never rule properly.'' the woman answered him.

''I'm no ruler.,' Michael answered

''But you are. You have ordered everything from the growing of crops to the rotation of troops, the towns you have, have had their security increased and trade is even happening there.

"Face it, you are a king in all but name.'' the woman said.

''Do it, for now, and guide the people. You can't just torture and kill your enemies, no sometimes you have to win them over.'' the woman said before a long pause took over.

Elizabeth knew the women had convinced him. Elizabeth now knew was both feared and powerful, powerful enough to push back the Adventurers and the people.

Not only that but a word from him and from what she heard a considerable chunk of power would instantly turn against the conquerors of Albion.


	4. Chapter 4

There was a brief pause and the man emerged angered but calm, his eyes locked on the boy in the whore\wet nurse arms.

He exhaled and forced himself to calm, he took the boy who in turn looked at him with wide eyes and practically jumped into the man's arms.

''Ana, go get your husband I need to speak to him'' he said, his voice was calm yet it held a rage that could be felt by all of those present.

''The rest of you come, with me,'' he ordered her and her servants.

For nearly half an hour, they made their way thru the castle halls. Michael stopped every couple of steps, so the old servant could keep up with them.

They passed by rooms filed by injured and elderly, creatures that walked and talked like people but had the bodies of animals and humans mixed into them.

Like the cat man on the ship or the boy with wolf ears and tail.

Yet what frightened them the most was the halhalf elves that were helping the injured, giving them potions or replacing dirty bandages, for clean ones.

It was in a large room filled with infants that she laid eyes on her, she wore a long white gown, her long blond hair hidden under her white hat that bore a red cross still fell below her long pointed ears.

The woman's thin figure and large breast made her quite the beauty, yet it was the look of recognition in the woman's eyes that she felt as if she now knew who was the boy's mother.

The utters certainly proved it, yet her figa urea showed a hint of ever having carried a child.

The woman's troubled smile, was so heavily strained yet as the boy saw her he jumped into her arms and began to suk on her breast.

The woman began to laugh as she tried to pry the boy off.

''Like faither, like son,'' Elizabeth thought to herself

Instantly the tension in the room was cleared between the twos laughter as Michael tried to pry the boy from the woman.

''I'm sorry.'' Michael began only for the woman to cut him off.

''It's okay, I know, so where'' Tiffania began only for Michael to cut her off.

''There is a large mansion, I'm no longer in active duty. That means you're coming with me, gather your things and meet me at the entrance at the bottom."

"We leave immediately.'' Michael said to Tiffania.

The woman's sad expression linked with his cold glare, no she had seen enough to know that the man wore a mask in front of everyone.

Yet she could see something else present, whatever relationship the two had, the elf woman held a look of worry and if it was even possible pity, not for herself, but for the Hammer.

The rest of the day was spent by them following the man making some sort of rounds and signing papers, looking into supplies and even speaking to the freaks in the castle.

She had to admit that she was rather shocked that even in his heavy armor, he wasn't even winded, yet she was almost completely exhausted.

At the end close to a thousand men would accompany them by foot, nearly eight hundred children, dozens of women and most surprisingly enough.

An unknown amount of infants.

He had protested at the sight of the infants, but according to the guild leader an elf woman with green hair, they had nearly run out of milk and food and they had been aware that the border had just that.

By the time they began to walk, several Adventurers had joined them and about ten magicians.

This was all without counting the people that she had brought with her, yet when they began to move he did not accompany her, no she had been forced to share a carriage with the elf wench.

He had walked amongst the people and at times she had even heard him speaking with several men and woman.

They moved during the day and night, the only time they rested was to give the horses food and time to sleep.

They rotated people within the carriages, at times the men would walk, then the woman and in a few occasion some of the children walked to let the tired elders onto the carriages.

Warm milk was given to the infants, but it was running out, so she saw that new mothers were carrying children that weren't their own feeding them.

At the end they reached their destination in two days, it was a large mansion one that had eight floors and several rooms how many she didn't know but it must have been a hundred or more.

Too small to be a palace, to large for dukes or a lord's mansion.

His first order was to have the people fed and rest, yet to their surprise the moment they entered the mansion grounds, they found that several guards, monsters, and freaks had cleaned out the place and made it ready for use.

His orders didn't change, however, since no one that accompanied them had any home to return to, he told them to pick a room and to get used to it, for it would be their new home.

[Speech changeMichael\ Double Hammer]  
It was a cold night, but yet again when was it ever warm near the border.

He had left both Elizabeth and Tiffania in his room, they would have to share a bed, but yet again they should be thankful they were getting anything at all.

He wasn't going to let infants sleep on the floor, so everything from cushions from sofas, matrices from beds and even small arches of hay covered in blankets.

Most of the people would sleep on the floor.

Either way, he didn't care, he hardly had any time to take in what had happened and now he had to deal with a political marriage and a woman people now believed was his mistress.

Anyone that had even taken a good look at the boy, noticed his strangely pointed ears, from what Maryelle the leader of the Crescent Moon Alliance, had told him. The fact that he had shown up carrying her in his arms didn't help matters.

Not only that but the boy's reaction to her was nearly magnetic.

His mind drifted to his men, ''How many were still alive? Were they all dead? Did they hold the line thinking he was going to show up miraculously, bringing with him reinforcements?''

He had seen nearly a thousand boys and men fight and die, leaving the adventurers as the only survivors.

Seen children pick up arms and fight to defend their mothers, from magical creatures.

The people's screams followed him wherever he went.

However they were right, the fighting needed to end and if it was to ever stop rebuilding needed to begin.

Already, invitations to nearby villages wanting his presence for trade deals and the people's desire to bend a knee and swear loyalty.

Noble houses messages announcing that several parties were being held in his honor, the mind games had begun and if he even denied one then it would be a considered an insult.

He knew full well, that he needed to secure food-cotton and water.

Medicine was extremely important and even the lost guilds had sent word that they would meet with him.

It was funny, the Adventurers of the west had despised him for what he had done and yet when he called for their help they listened.

He unconsciously placed his hand on his forehead and exhaled, he wished he could forget close his eyes and die.

His hammers glowed with his growing stress, however even as he sat down in the dark empty hall of the mansion, he shivered at the ever colder night.

''What the hell am I supposed to do?'' he said out loud, but the mansion was so dark that he couldn't even see his own nose, so if anyone was with him he wouldn't have ever noticed.

Yet even as he passed out from the lack of sleep, he could feel the warmth of a woman's soft hands. He hadn't slept before he was called to the Crescent Moon, then he had stood guard on the ship.

Yet it was the stench of blood, that kept him awake in Gallia and now he couldn't even stay awake.

It was the clanking sound of a metal tray falling, that his eyes shot open his hammers glowed readily to meet the attack. Yet even as he stood he felt the pull of a blanket fall of him.

''umf'' of a woman's voice.

He turned to look only to see Tiffania cover hand-knitted blanket, her left leg was exposed all the way to her thigh and her figure made it seem as if she was naked underneath.

A servant girl struggled to quickly pick up tray filled with cloth and the sounds of running drew his attention of several several soldiers that bared in, prepared to deal with whatever intruder had dared to enter.

They all chuckled to themselves and some gave him a nod of approval, it didn't matter he was still wearing his armor.

The fact that Tiffania hid behind him, covering herself with the blanket didn't help matters.

''Tiffania, go get dressed. I have a lot of work to do,'' he said, yet as he turned to look at the young woman he saw Elizabeth standing by the door, wearing light clothing meant for sleeping.

The woman had a pained look in her eyes.

The day soon became frustrating, not only had he been forced to reed the property rights, some landowners that fled the area, now demanded to have them back.

Normally this wouldn't have been an issue, but they were the same nobles the people had risen up against.

Reluctantly he allowed them to do so, like it or not they knew the layout the of the land and what could actually be done in those areas.,

Yet he made it abundantly clear that just one word of them abusing the people and he would deal with them personally.

Food was an issue, yet it was thanks to Tiffania that he found a nearly completely untapped food supply in her forest, it wasn't enough to feed all of the people in the border but it was enough that no one would starve.

The girl had stayed close to him for some reason and only left his side when questions about what to do with the children that ran in the yard.

Housing was a pain in the ass, a lot of homes had been burned down and Albion didn't have a lot of trees for housing and the Earth Mages were few and far between.

It wasn't that there weren't any magicians that could move the earth, but there were incredibly few that could actually create a detailed building, that would last for more than a few hours.

Needless to say, the few were becoming incredibly wealthy.

The water supply was divided in three ways, ice, magic, and wells.

Ice was brought in from the colder regions melted and given to whatever village that could afford it.

Wells were used by the few villages that actually had water near them and finally, the mages used magic to simply bring forth water from wherever the hell they summoned it.

Still, papers needed to be signed and even as he finished one stack another took its place.

There wasn't any form of doctor beyond water mages and what the Adventurers had along with the people of the land.

So he wrote a letter, hoping that they would accept his petition to teach those with talent.

If they agreed, then maybe the west could actually have a fully functional hospital.

Still, small clinics were better most of the time, most of the things that would show up would be colds and injured limbs.

He briefly looked up and noticed that the room was now light up with several candles.

"That wasn't right it had sunny a moment ago." He thought to himself.

He looked out his window and realized he had been so caught up with his work and had not eaten all day, only a few glasses of water.

And he hadn't even made a dent in the dam mountains of paper.

He was about tobgo to bed, but when he exited the study he saw Tiffania sleeping on the floor, he exhaled and took her to a long sofa in his study, the girl didn't even notice.

He just sat on the floor besidee her and placed a warm blanket on top of her, it was the her only defense against the cold.

He looked at the hammer, the weapon forged from the Knight Guards from the world Elder Tales, his armor was nothing more than the remains of the broken armor of both his original set and the Guards of back them.

But the hammers were made of that monster staff, its weapon.

He remembered the real reason, he had been chosen to wear the armor.

No one liked or forgave him and in reality, he believed no one wanted him to go with them to a safe location.

The people feared him, they had seen him hurt his own people and even punish those that had rejoiced in all of the chaos.

The Adventurers despised him, for everything he and those with him had done.

The memory of discovering the boy in his mother's arms, dying after she had given birth while surrounded by a zombie plague.

He was inexperienced and stupidly took the boy after she had died.

From that day on, people had attempted to kill the boy, they called him his only eir/bastardtard.

This was the curse of the Adventurer, cursed to live forever, cursed to eternal battles and cursed to see everyone near them die.

Again he passed out.

[Speech change Tristania]  
There had been a meeting only a few hours ago.

Princess Henrietta had gone numb, not only had she only laid eyes on her love for a few seconds, but she was now eternally separated from him.

The meeting had been between herself, her mothPrinceince Whales, and the Valliere family.

Whales had proven himself a good leader and with the many servants and people still loyal to him, he had proven too much of an opportunity to let go.

Yet without any kingdom or any form of land and he was now separated from her.

So her mother called a good friend of the family and they had agreed to wed her best friend's youngest daughter, to the ex-prince.

Louise, was her playmate when she was only an infant, barely able to walk and now she would take the man she loved as her own.

Henrietta could hardly hold back her tears, yet for the faintest of instances her mask broke and she fell to her knees crying.

Yet as she looked up about to let out a painfilled scream the sound stopped in her throat.

A man was in the room with her, his piercing gaze sent a chills so cold that it felt like ice. The man reached his coat and handed her a letter, and instantly vanished from sight.

She quickly opened the letter and found unquestionable proof that people within her country had sided with Reconquista and were planning to betray her.

However, there was something else, the letter also had an image that she knew all too well.

It was used by nobles to silence anyone that might try to betray them.

There on the back of the letter, behind several sheets of paper, was a rope hung from a piece of wood and the mark of Albion's conquerors had sent an assassin to give her the information, not only that an unspoken message.

They could kill her if they ever truly wanted.


	5. Chapter 5

Still, Henrietta had no choice but to steel herself once again, the only thing she could do was take the letter and its various pages to her mother. The woman's smile vanished when she saw the look on Henrietta's face.

It had only been sheer luck that the Valliere family had excused themselves, for the evening, so she was able to hand her mother the papers.

She told her mother how the man that was hidden in the darkness, had handed to her the letter and how he seemed to vanish right in front of her. Yet it wasn't until the Queen laid eyes on Albion's sigil, that she understood.

Tristian had been sent a message in more ways than one, a warning that one was obvious.

Yet it was the other two that remained unspoken, an alliance, one offered by handing her over, all of the people that plotted against her and the crown.

The last one was what the queen would keep to herself only after she and several of her most trusted advisors had debated about it.

There written in a special magic ink, used by the crown, was a message Albion's new rulers offered an alliance by marriage.

It wouldn't matter who, the damn thing would be nothing more than an exchange between hostages and nothing more.

The woman would actually be a wife, not just a simple bed partner.

Still, this offered too great of an opportunity, it didn't matter that the woman would have no real power, but she would be able to pass information to Tristanian, any magic exclusive to Albion would be sent back as well as the names and faces of the new rulers.

Still, Henrietta could see her mother's expression.

No the queen's mind was preoccupied with another less urgent matter, Wales.

The ex-prince was powerful and held Noble blood, his understanding of politics as well as magic was superb and it would have been foolish of her to allow him to go to any other kingdom.

Yet as queen, it was her job to choose what kind of wedding ceremony would occur. The young prince had no land, so he was made into a lord.

Nothing too important, he would be responsible for some lands and if possible power in case of any form of war.

There were several kinds of weddings and even if they were all different they were all acknowledged by the church. Each one had its own level of humiliation or by the people point of view honer.

Romania ordered the bride to pass her first night with her father in law and the groom to lay with his mother in law.

Gallia essentially had both bride and groom to be passed around, the groom would take several commoners and do the deed. Any basterds born were just that basterds and by that reason, no concern of the crown.

The bride would be taken by the groom's father and close relatives, this was to ensure that the woman would only give birth to noble blooded children.

It was for this reason that the nobles in Gallia, all possessed blue hair.

Germania was unique amongst them all. It wasn't uncommon for several men to take one woman right there and then and in fact, it was believed that if the wedding didn't have more than two deaths it was boring.

However the bride and groom would only know each other's bed, no one else would share it.

The last was a simple quiet wedding, family, and friends that were indeed loyal. No extravagance, or show to make certain that both bride and groom, knew how to make love.

And it was there that lied the issue.

Wales was a discarded prince and had he been still within his country, his father the king, would have decided what kind of wedding would be had.

Neither Tristanian nor Albion had any secured form of marriage so it wasn't uncommon to see any of those be done, in fact, she herself had gone to the ceremonies.

The Valliere was a trusted as well as close friends and deserved better than to have their daughter passed around. Even if it ensured that the child would be of noble blood, after all, she was young and it wasn't uncommon to hear, that a recently married woman had been seen mounting a stable boy or three.

Yet the ex-prince deserved no such reward, he had lost his kingdom and from what Agnes and her spies had informed her had the Freaks not shown up. Then the prince would have been dead anyway.

So she decided that it would be both an insult and a gift. An insult as the ex-prince would get no form of extravagance, no noble in Tristanian would accept it and if he did get any. He would be targeted by assassins, that saw him as a threat.

A gift because the Valliere would have their youngest only know one man if the girl wasn't promiscuous.

It would be a simple wedding, by close friends and loved ones, nothing more.

Of course, Henrietta was ignorant of any of this. She simply saw her mother's cold expression, the letters held in her hands, seemed to do little other than annoy her.

''Go, sleep in my room tonight, take Agnes and extra guards, for now'' her mother told her. Yet as Henrietta began to walk away she heard her mother's voice.

''Stay away from him, he's no longer anything to you now.'' her mother said.

Henrietta, simply began to walk each step faster than her last, until she found herself running into her mother's room. She broke down into tears long before, she had even closed the door.

[Speech change Log Horizon]  
Shiroe and the rest of his guild were checking on the western regions, normally the natives or the people of the land would do this, but the borders were hot spots and people were known to be attacked by whatever.

So they were doing it as a request by the princess, a good friend of theirs.

Arriving at this world and getting used to the fact that they wouldn't be able to get home, did hurt but in all honesty. Everyone knew that they might never go home again.

So, the fact that they arrived in a country in a civil war meant nothing to the adventurers, after all, adventurers live for fighting.

The castles Long Horizon and Crescent Moon were using were abandoned watch fortress, they were supposed to be remnants from a time before Albion was thrown into the sky.

The truth was that several guilds actually used them and the lands surrounding the castles were now being called guild lands and towns if there were any.

Needless to say, regular people wanted the fighting to the end, so they fled to them when they heard it was safe there. Even if it took some getting use to the more animalistic members amongst them.

Still, there was a civil war going on, so raids and attacks weren't uncommon, so the adventurers and some of the people of the land knights were forced to fight them off.

This is what caused the invasion of Albion, in the end, it was to stop the fighting by force or be forced to let more people die.

There were there to drop off supplies, see if they needed reinforcements, provide medicine and move one. Either way he and his friends were almost done when Naotsugu pointed out something interesting.

Out of an army of ten thousand men and boys, there were only two Adventurers.

There weren't any mages and the few animals they had, the men had tamed them themselves.

Naotsugu asked when the rest of the defense would be back and if any magicians would help with providing shelter.

The answer he received was disturbing.

The adventurers were in the deep where the real fighting was happening and some guilds had stayed behind to enforce order and begin to rebuild the border.

A lot of men were now scouting, they were only seven hundred and there weren't any mages amongst them.

The borders were the closest thing to hell and Shiroe had heard stories of entire battalions being wiped out, the only ones left standing were the adventurers amongst them.

When asked about Michael, the answer he received was both heartwarming and disturbing.

''The General, he's been sent away. "

"There's no way he would have left us unless it was a good reason."

"I once saw that man be torn to pieces again and again and again. Just to give us time to retreat'' the men answered him, each giving a different answer.

''Thank God that man is still worrying about us. I bet he sent you to check up on us. Tell him we will keep the west safe.'' said another, smiling with genuine joy., his face was half burned.

''Tell him to hurry up and get my new house ready. When this is over I'm taking three wives and starting my own farm.'' said another only to receive howling cheers from the men around him.

This went on like this, the west defense was nothing more than regular people. All they had were muskets, a couple of canons, a lot of semy tamed animals and improvised explosives.

Yet these were the men that fought of the fire giants and the armies of magically reanimated dead. They had brought down several airships and taken a castle filled with mages that were experimenting on the Commoners.

And they were loyal to Double Hammer and no one else. He had fought alongside them from the beginning and if what they said was true, he had already died several times giving them time to retreat and regroup.

Eisenhorn and Beatrice were mentioned but they were only well spoken of.

They were respected but not to the level of Double Hammer. These men would instantly pick up arms should that man ever call for it and their loyalty was almost fanatical.

Normally they would have left and in all honesty, Shiroe would have.

However, Naotsugu insisted they stay and spend some time with the border guard.

Right from the start, the captain of one of the teams asked if they were staying as reinforcements. However, when Shiroe told them they were just there to deliver supplies, the mood changed dramatically.

The once tense but welcoming atmosphere was replaced with a hostile one.

''Let me guess, you came here to see if we were even doing our jobs.'' the captain said.

''We've had your kind here before, spitting orders and killing us in order to force us to keep fighting. The general might not be here, but we'd all die here, haining your sorry asses in some kind of tumeb before you push us around.'' the man said.

When Shiroe looked around he found that the men were either already armed or reaching for a weapon.

''You do realize we're Adventurers and even if you kill us. We would onlcomcome back.'' Nyanta said with a calm but threatening voice.

''Doesn't matter. We've seen how long it takes for you to be able to fight after you come back. The general has died so many times that we've all memories it .'' the man said before his expression lost all of the anger it had.

Naotsugu had thrown his sword and shield down and lifted his hands in the air.

''We're not here to do any of that,'' he said his voice was calm but serious.

The captain just waved the man to stand down.

''Sorry about that, but like I said. No one that comes here to inspect anything was ever anything else or shit.

''Don't you mean horse shit'' Shiroe said.

''No, horse shit has its uses. Oger shit doesn't'' the man answered, his words earned him some chuckles from the men.

''So what with the mood swings'' Akatsuki asked the captain.

''Sorry about that, but it's needed around here. We get attacked by something one moment and the next there is nothing. "

"Hell, we've spent an entire week and move without any problems only to be ambushed by swarms of hungry bugs.'' the captain answered her.

''But that's not the answer you wanted is it,'' the captain said, as he looked at the small assassin in front of him.

''It started before the general showed up. Nobles that wanted to prove themselves would send entire groups of us to die. I say that because there was no chance of us winning and when our nerve broke they would launch spells at us killing anyone that tried to run away.''

''Others would kill us just because and some of the Nobles and leaders of the rebellion just turned and left us all behind. We heard that a lot of them fled the country.''

'Then the Adventurers showed up and it was because of them that we finally started bringing some order in the thing. See that road.''the captain said, as he pointed at a dirt road, that some men and animals were breaking stones before placing them all over the dirt road,

''That's called the broken road, it's named like that because of how much hell it took, just to lay the first stone."

"We fought for days taking that camp and when it was all over as a form of ceremony. We all took a rock and placed it making a make ship road.''

''The damn thing looked broken. That's why it's named the broken road.''

''Villages began to settle in the safer areas and trade between towns began, the road is used by people trying to get to safe areas and if there isn't an owner or a village for miles.  
Then you can bet that eventually there will be.''

''But raids started happening, so some of the adventurers had to go back and maintain the peace. The problem was that at first groups of us would go deep into the fighting, but as you can see we're just regular men."

"So the Adventurers started going in instead and our guys started acting as forme of police.'' the captain said, as the night fell and the men put out the fires, only the light of the two moons light up the trenches.

''I saw the look of betrayal he had, before calling the retreat. When a group of mages we had with us, managed to take an airship and began to open fire on an entire pack of dirt bears.

We thought that we finally caught a break. Until the mages turned around and left us behind.''

''We wanted to believe, that they didn't know how to control the thing, that the ship was doing it on its own."

"So when we screamed for them to drop the ladders so we could get on and turn the ship around. Imagine how we felt when fire magic was thrown at us.'' the captain finished saying his story.

''You didn't answer my question''akatsuki said, her voice unchanged.

''Did I ever say it stopped. Once a while an investigator shows up. They ask some questions and point fingers."

"Or someone wanting to make a name for themselves starts acting high and mighty, the same goes for some Nobles son that shows up."

"We loos men like that and they die because of it.'' the captain said, his voice now low.

''So you kill them,'' Shiroe said.

''No, we just don't save them. They get the same treatment from us, as we get from them.''the captain said as he turned and began to walk.

''There are no noncombatants in the guard, everyone fights, be they, men or woman."

"So for the night all of you are expected to pick up arms in case of emergency and you'' the captain said to Naotsugu, however, he never turned around to look at him.

''Never drop your weapon.  
Not to me, not to my men and certainly not to the general."

"Fight for your family, fight for your men, fight for your sons and daughters.  
Fight for them to have another better  
tomorrow."

"Fight for a tomorrow.'' the captain said before the night took him and he disappeared from sight.

Shiroe and his friends the people he had grown to call family, could only stand there in the light of the two moons, as the cold wind blew between them.

These men could and would not be broken, they had already seen hell and had long since made peace, that they might not be here the next day.

Yet thru overwhelming odds, they had earned their victories. They had found loyalty amongst each other, even after being betrayed so many times.

But they all shared one thing in common with everyone else. They wanted the fighting to stop.

[Speech change Germania]  
It had been hours and dam rain had finally stopped. There are those that say that nobles needed to act a certain way or that the position of ruler of any sort needed to be a descendant of the founder.

Germania cared for none of that. There were three simple rules, be capable, ensure loyalty and always be watchful.

It wasn't out of the ordinary for a commoner to be made a noble or for a noble to lose everything.

If anyone asked or demanded proof, the commoner would use a magic item or two to prove they had magic, heavens knew that the dam church was pleased with just that.

Germania learned a long time ago, that its greatest resource was its people, so Emperors were voted in and from day one, their lives were on the line. Back when the land was first settled and even after that, the commoners proved their worth.

Inventing creative ways to survive or take advantage of a resource, for this reason, Germania, was unique amongst the kingdoms.

You needed to be capable in order to survive and prosper. No amount of magic would save you and those titles everyone goes on about, what good were they when you have nothing to eat.

More than once both mages and commoners pushed forward and became wealthy by grains or gold.

The servants had more than once saved the lives of whoever, this is why you needed loyalty.

Ever watchful, well even your closest friends will stab you in the back for the right reasons. An infant being tortured and what not.

The land was good to them, but it was also cruel.

Before the kingdom was cemented, the tribes would war among themselves and the animals were even more dangerous. Yet the weather condition... winters that lasted half a year and rain that didn't stop for weeks.

Germania had no time or patience for blood eirs. You were good at what you did or you didn't do it at all.

No one knew this better than the Emperor.

Even as he stood cold rain and the wind blowing the man didn't dare express he was freezing, sure he shivered, after all, who wouldn't. Yet if his men were to suffer the cold, so would he.

Currently, he was re'enacting a war game, there wasn't any killing involved, but accidents did happen.

A cracked skull here a broken leg there. Both men and women fought each other and turned on one another, more times than one a team had broken off and their own side, joining the enemy.

So the men were taught to defend in case of such a situation and if someone would stray their hand should they have him in their sight, they would be punished.

In a battle, no, one would even consider putting down their weapon.

His father had told him, that his uncle a man with no magic whatsoever, killed ten nobles and an entire castle filled with supposed blessed children.

''Poison was just as good as any sword or wand.'' he would say.

Lately, he had been talking officers, Gallian was moving in every direction, Albion had fallen and if the Emperor was honest it had been several centuries too late.

Prince Wales may have been loved but every other king and queen….

Perhaps it was the heavens doing that not only had the common people risen but also strange beings had taken over.

His spies had spoken and showed just how they treated the people. Health care was not withheld and was moved to safe regions where the fighting had died down.

Food was a problem but they did what they could.

It was for this reason, that he didn't just attack the Black Sword Knight when they showed up asking for Germania to remain Neutral should a war start.

But there had been whispers, talks about a full-blown war, in other kingdoms.

Lords having their throats slight and would be rulers causing trouble.

Daughters of nobles showing up in whore houses and sons mysteriously vanishing only to show up somewhere, that was better not to think about what had been done to them.

Indeed that had happened in his kingdom, but the servants and even some of the people that saw anything put a stop to it. This was why loyalty is needed.

Unfortunately, the kidnappers and would be assassins, died by a spell created to keep them from talking.

But that was neither here nor there, he had a game to win and wine to drink with his men when it was all over.

The good thing was that a small break had been called to stop any accidents. Unfortunately, now that the rain had stopped he was forced to do the one enemy he couldn't defeat, well other than his wife.

Paperwork.

Like it or not he was still Emperor, the job had its ups and downs.

Wine-woman-war games and so many more.

The problem was there were more downs than ups, the position was mostly filled with snakes wanting to bring you down-people endlessly complaining and if anything went wrong. People blamed you for it, even if you didn't even know about it.

Sure the work would stop for months on end, but he also had to look at the food production and how much gold the treasury had. Therefore he was always working.

He felt his anger take over, as he looked at a report from one of his spies. Well, not a spy, more like a guard that was always invisible.

Her job was to guard his daughter and unless the girl was in mortal danger, she was ordered by noninvolved otherwise the girl would never grow up.

People learned from their mistakes and a scrape on the knee or burned hair never killed anybody.

Having magic was incredibly convenient.

But this report made his blood boil, truthfully he wouldn't have cared had the girl been married and had her first child. There was an unspoken rule, amongst all of the people.

Nose before marriage, whether the baby was a boy or a girl didn't matter. After that, you were free to lay with whoever you wanted, as long as they already had their first child.

This stopped health risks and ensured that the husband and wife had at least one child together.

So no jealous husbands and wives killed anyone like they did everywhere else.

His wife had birth three children two girls and a boy that was his and another from a farmer that according to her was good looking.

He had how many children now?

Well, that didn't matter, bastard were bastards.

Still, the rule written in stone was, no man and woman shall know each other before marriage and that whore of a daughter had done just that multiple times.

He loved his youngest daughter and for that reason, he had hidden this from her mother.

Yet the woman had her own informants and when she found out, he had to restrain her from disowning the girl.

If a woman chose to sell her body before marriage she was looked down as worse than scum, regardless of the situation.

Should she choose to do it afterward, she would be dismissed nothing out of the ordinary.

His closest friend and half-brother suggested that they sent the girl far, where no one would care.

Other families had their children in that school, so they already whispered, my marriage proposals would be political ones that would terminate after, the papers were marked.

His wife wanted the girl disowned and cast to the streets, she wasn't her problem anymore.

His advisors said that it would be best the girl be dealt with before she was used against him and now that things were starting to act up. They now had grounds to stand on.

However, he had work to do and he would worry about that later, so when he laid eyes on the documents informing him of who the Black Sword was, did he find himself smiling.

The knights were the personal guard of the new conquering prince, they were well spoken about by the people and were seen as replacements in situations when the crown was simply unavailable and all of them were loyal.

Unlike everywhere else Germania took advantage of the ability to see the memories of people.

So his spies let their memories of what they had seen, be taken and inspected.

So he and his advisors already knew about the beast men and the adventurers. The new inventions that were being created and more.

So his mind began to work, a position of power, trusted by the people, loyal to the ruler as an individual not the throne and ever watchful. Had these men been Germanian, he would have demanded they fight in his armies.

So he began to think and an answer formed a political marriage a deal between kingdoms.

His daughter would be dealt with and they would gain powerful allies. The only question was which one of the knights and he came to the one conclusion.

The man responsible for leading the Black Sword Knights. Sir Isaac.

The horn had rung and it was time to finish the game, he smiled as picked up his long sword. Time to have some fun, before more headaches come in.

[Speech Change Log Horizon]

The atmosphere had hanged, several people had come in and Shiroe was slightly surprised, to see that beast men were amongst them.

Almost immediately men began to whistle, any that were getting some sleep was woken up by Bugbears that landed on their heads.

Even if the creatures looked like nothing more than a giant ebutbutthe men didn't seem to care. The creatures vanished, no it was more like they teleported as the men rose to their feet.

''If you and your friends aren't going to fight, then you need to leave now. We're moving out.'' a soldier said to them.

''I thought, that you were to hold here,', Nyanta answered the man.

''Situations changed, we've already sent a petition for reinforcements. If we do get them, they'll join us by tomorrow evening.''

''If we do get them.'' the man repeated.

The sounds of hissing and grumbling, caught Shiroe's attention as he noticed that even the animals were moving.

How they moved so quietly while they were in groups was beyond him. However, Shiroe could see there was one or two people with them.

An unspoken agreement was done between Shiroe and the members of his guild.

So they began to follow the guard,yet the men's mood was now completely different.

It wasn't hostile like when they assumed they were there was opportunist and it was nowhere near friendly and carefree like they had been before.

Now the men's faces were grim, their ears picked up every move the grass made and if there were any strange sounds the dogs were let loose.

No chances were being taken.

Yet even as they walked the small group of guild members, noticed that every step was taken quietly.

Not even the dogs barked, no they were far more deadly, the animals moved on to any strange sound and instead of barking, they would surround it and attack

Only after the attack began, did they begin causing a ruckus.

They walked for six hours and if there was any hint of resting, Shiroe didn't see it.

Finally after nearly ten hours, did Shiroe hear a familiar whistle, still, they didn't stop. However the dogs had their ears standing, Bugbears began to float close to the ground and every other animal was now on full alert.

Finally another whistle, then another and another, this went on until the entire group was surrounded by nothing but whistling.

Instantly food and water began to be passed around and several scouts began to show patches of papers and spoke to the various captains.

The scouts were filthy, covered with mood, dirt, grass and if they weren't out in theotherthenn they would have become impossible to see.

Fire Salamanders, used small flames to cook small batches of food and heated water for coffee.

Even as, the food was being passed around, Shiroe was actually surprised, that he was handed a plate of food and medicine for any blisters suffered during their walk.

''It's too late, you and your friends will fight'' a soldier said as he handed him the food.

[Speech change Tristania]  
The queen had entered her chambers and had begun to undress and prepare to rest for the night.

She removed her dress and was down to her undergarments when she looked up and saw a man hidden in her room.

No, he wasn't hiding, more like he blended in the room and left no presence that he was practically invisible.

''Your people have done something incredibly stupid,"he said.

She was about to call for the guards when the man spoke again.

''Do it and you lose any chance for peace.''

"We know it wasn't you nor any of those loyal to you. The political purge, you had left little to prove this, however, your husband and his accomplices left standing orders, orders that are now being carried out.'' He continued, as he threw to her several papers filled with name and more than one magic mirrors, that had the recorded memories of several people.

As she picked up the documents her eyes widened, she felt herself shake as she reached for the first mirror.

''Ill skip the details, but the orders were like this. Waite to the point where Albion had heavily depleted its military, food supply and was in a state of heavy chaos."

"The moment that everything looks like it will begin to repair itself. Attack and exterminate any heavily populated areas and any true form of defenses.''

''The conditions are now perfect and the orders have been put in effect. Albion was in complete chaos, the commoners had risen up against the Nobles the constant warfare, both the food supply and its military are heavily depleted.''

''Albion would have been stupidly simple to conquer. However your husband and his accomplished didn't account for us shoup.."

"As of this moment, our forces are all moving directly to intercept.''

''This is where you come in, deal with the situation from your end and prepare to surrender.'' The man said before vanishing.

" I'll be in contact'' his voice lingered, with her simply standing there viewing the stored memories.


	6. Chapter 6

[Speech change Albion]  
The meeting room was quiet, the atmosphere, was so incredibly tense that it itself acted as a wall. However, there was something else present, regret and self-loading

''Its started'' said the first.

''We did everything we could do. But right now, all of our best and worst are all marching straight into the enemy's path.'' said the second.

'' We did our best, but there wasn't any time to warn them.'' spoke the third

[Speech change Twenty-Fifth Guard]  
They rested and talked about pass loves and even to the adventurers were still tense around them, they were getting used to being around them.

They were the twenty-fifth and they were family.

It started, with the sound of wind moving, not the regular kind, but the kind of sound air makes when it is truly something.

They weren't worried, it was probably another airship passing by, but no one survived in the twenty-fifth by leaving things to chance.

So they dug in and hid from sight.

They were the twenty-fifth and they were family.

Three weeks later.

It had been the straw that broke the camel's back.

In the end, any form of infighting stopped, there was still the occasional idiot that got too big for himself, but Albion would never be the same again.

At the end it didn't matter, when the lighting had finally Nobles surrendered all they asked for was a fair trial and as strange as it seemed that was the only thing they asked.

Some did ask for their families to be spared, but that was it.

What remained of Reconquista, half surrendered, the other half slipped into small villages and lived their lives.

It was a strange sight, seeing a group of armed men, wave a white flag and drop their weapons.

A memorial was set up, for those lost in all the fighting.

As for Albion itself, the Guild lands.

The areas that had a high number of Adventurers, they were left almost completely unharmed. The Adventurers proved how capable they were.

The gurd demonstrated themselves to still be just as effective as they've ever been and saved a large part of the capital.

However, as for the small towns and villages.

Some were completely lost others barely survived, either helpe arrived on time or the people showed how much they had learned.

It helped that both beast men and some mages were with them.

The south and its high amount of animals, had practically wiped out the invasion force before it could set foot.

The east held but they had nearly depleted their resources and are now receiving as much help as possible.

The north held, but whatever Silver Sword's fighting doesn't like anyone attacking it enemies. It's like the old saying.

''If anyone is going to take that bitch out. It's gonna be me.''

As for the west, they proved what ordinary people could do. It's said three monsters rule the lands a dragon-the king and the guard.

Now it's time to rebuild and wait until the name of the person or country that ordered the attack to be named and then.

Revenge.

[Speech change Tiffania]  
She woke up on the sofa again, its been hard for her.

For everyone the last three weeks and she found herself trying to stay close to the only person she felt safe around.

But that was the thing Michael has been so caught up working, that the man falls asleep in his chair.

Part of the mansion had been destroyed and it needed to be rebuilt. Elizabeth has been looking into everything from money transfers to the amount of milk the babies are taking.

The problem is, that the room that only had a couple of stacks of paper, is now completely filled with them.

She looked up and saw that Michael was still asleep, sometime between her falling asleep and him actually sleeping, Elizabeth had come in and taken the sofa.

So Michael was now sleeping on the floor again.

She started sneaking into the study after the attack.

Tiffania thought it was because of what they had seen, a chimera vs a broken knight.

Michael won but no one saw him the same way again and Elizabeth now walked two steps behind him all the time.

Still, it was time for her morning routine, she snuck out, careful not to wake them and headed to the room she shared with Elizabeth.

Inreality it was Michael's room but he never used it and honestly the room was now becoming just one big closet.

No one slept in it anymore.

She took a light bath and looked at her skar, the attack hit her straight thru the chess, she felt herself blush when she remembered that he fed her the healing potion, using his own mouth.

However her smile began to vanish as she noticed drops of blood falling into the water, her nose was bleeding again.

The potion had saved her life, but she still needed to heal and from what the doctors told her, if she tried to rush things, then it would do more harm than good.

So she had to slowly heal.

She remembered those things heading towards the area the babies were and the screams of the women.

The moments she saw them she casted her only spell, erasing the monsters memories over and over again, faster and faster than she had ever done before.

She casted so fast that the attackers forgot their spells or that they were even fighting..

However, her will was running out and a mage pierced her straight thru the chest.

She thought she would die, then Michael showed up. His eyes were a crimson red and his armor changed color, it wasn't black anymore now it was gray and the smooth shape was replaced by a dented form.

He killed them all and took no prisoners.

Then that thing showed up and Michael was left completely alone.

The servants and the knights all look at him with fear and walk around him like if they were walking on eggshells.

No one speaks to him unless they have to now, only her and Elizabeth do and that's because they spend time with him.

Her nose finally stopped bleeding, so she was now able to put on her white dress, it had a red cross on its back, a memory from her time with the Crescent Moon.

She tied her hair in a bun and began her work.

Vegetables from the kitchen were washed and placed on the counter by the basket, place in separate large pots that could fit a person and boiled. One by one or in groups, the maids and cooks came in.

After the vegetables were ready, they were smooshed and taken to babies babies then came her least favorite pear, changing them.

So they fed all of the little ones and took them to the main hall, normally this room would be used by Michael to lord over people but it was never used and the man had said to use it.

At least until they were sure, it was safe for the little ones.

This was her day, she took care of the little ones and even started to make friends, the other nurses now talked to her about their husbands and how they acted.

Strange as it was, they were shocked to hear that she had more than once forced Michael to eat something.

The day went by fast and she found herself smiling at the children's actions and the woman's gossip.

But at night, she would return to the study only to find him alone, working, frustrated, once in awhile the man would have a relieved look on his face, then it vanished as another sheet of paper was put in front of him.

She looked at him and steeled herself, if the man wouldn't rest then she would force him to.

Tiffania felt her heart race, she knew that what she was about to do was wrong, well not wrong but they weren't married.

She took a deep breath called Michaels name and promptly sat on his lap, letting her hindquarters nest on his lapp and a part she would rather not think about at the moment.

''I need to keep working.'' he said.

''No'' she answered.

''Theres still so much to do,'' he told her.

''No'' she insisted.

''Fine, but we will stay like this then.,' he said as he took her into his arms and hugged her.

He felt warm, kid, tired. Lonely.

It wasn't long but she felt him rest his head on her shoulder and his breathing calmed itself, then he fell asleep.

During the night he would wake up at times, she would see him, tighten his eyes, like he was having a nightmare, the thing was.

This happened every night, but now he was resting not just sleeping.

Tiffania just lowered her head on his chest and closed her eyes.

For the briefest of instances she wondered what would people say, but then she threw those thoughts away, this was more important.

Tiffania woke when a gasp caught her attention when she opened her eyes she was met with Michael's mouth, only a brief move from on hers.

She turned her head careful not to wake Michael and saw a pair of servant girls covering their mouths in shock.

Then a man she had not seen before walked behind them.

''Oh sorry,' he said as he closed the door.

She could hear the three of them speak. ''Did you see them.'' said one of the girls.

''Leave it alone.'' the man told her.

''But she was dressed, you know what they were doing.'' and the other girl.

''The General's son is a half-elf, the woman has breast the size of cows udders. It doesn't take a genius to know the woman is lactating, leave the lord to his woman.'' The man said, as footsteps immediately followed his words.

Tiffania thought about Michael's son and how they had left him behind with his wet nurse.

It was too dangerous to bring the boy with them so the woman would watch over him, however, the boy was now being brought to the border.

She remembered what she had been shown that fateful day when she and the rest of the group had been put in front of the mirrors.

She had seen entire villages being wiped out, men and boys fighting of mage's that cut them down and then the rise of Reconquista.

The borders were nothing special, but they offered a quick escape and any mage capable of levitation would escape.

Mercenaries- necromancers- revels and more came in.

Then they arrived beast men- knights-mages and elves came out of nowhere and were immediately attacked.

This was the start of the border wars, then the invasion from other kingdoms began and then the creation of the guard.

Where deep within Albion, the fighting had almost stopped, here the fighting continued.

People-mages and revels pushed further out and invading forces struck the borders defenders, but that was the thing, regardless of who it was the adventurers and their allies had to conquered the borders and they were theirs.

It was strange seeing it, no it was horrifying.

Airships being brought down, beast driven mad by fear and people backstabbing each other and like a beacon of light the guard rose.

Normal men held the line, against the undead- chimeras-mad men and mages that had no morals

Slowly small settlements grew and safe areas were made.

Then she saw them the Adventurers, like endless fortresses holding against the endless tides defending the people and there he was.

She saw him be torn to pieces, poisoned by spells, impelled by spiders blades and more, yet he always rose to defend his men.

''Hold the line!'' she heard him scream and saw how the people looked up to him and began to call him king or lord.

The men laughed and spoke with insults, beast men -adventurers and mages all sat together one moment and the next she saw their dead faces.

Then it stopped, it ended with the adventurers alone.

She looked at Michael and wondered how long had he been fighting, she knew that he would stop at nothing to keep his men safe.

She hoped he would keep her safe, she instinctively hugged him and kissed his cheek.

He would protect her and when her sister was found, they would live together in the mansion and they would be surrounded by people that accepted them.

Still, as comfortable as she was, she couldn't stay like this so she twisted and slipped away from the man's grip and counted her lucky stars that he hadn't woken up to see her undergarments whether bottom was pulled up.

She exhaled to see Michael was still sleeping.

Yet when she turned around she saw Elizabeth standing there at the doors entrance, she didn't say anything but her eyes were hurt. They locked eyes and the blue-haired woman walked away.

It was time to go and feed the men in the infirmary, there weren't many hospitals so a lot of men had been separated and forcefully put in the care of those that had healers or anyone with medical knowledge. However, limited it was.

Yet these men had face against overwhelming odds and if it was called for them to fight naked and win.

The by the god in heaven, the men would gladly march into hell naked, beat the devil with his own horns and drag every treasure in hell before locking the door behind them.

At least that's what the people said.

Tiffa thought it was just an excuse for the crown to not send any reinforcements.

But that was the thing, why would they?

Even now the number of animals under their control was increasing.

Tiffania remembered how her eyes widened at seeing the mood mammoths march determined and uncaring who or what was in front of them.

Rok-mud-bug and grass bears growled at anyone that even dared approach and the wolves-cats and other beasts were barely restraining themselves.

Yet in front of them were the grim faces of the guard, men walked in front of all of the animals more than half were being carried their bodies to injured or broken for them to walk.

Tiffania remembered how the doctors and mages ran to see the men only to have one of the mammoths scream menacingly and charge, a spiked tiger immediately attacked.

Tiffa remembered seeing the servant's eyes widen as a guardsman locked eyes with the mammoth and yell something and pat it.

The animal calmed down and stood next to the injured guard's man.

The tiger was pinned by another and smacked across the face, the tiger attacked only for the guardsman to place his pistol into the animal's mouth.

They looked at each other, the man bleeding, the animals spikes and claws had done their job, yet he didn't care.

They just looked at each other, the guard was the alfa and everything else was beneath them and the animals knew this.

To see the tiger calm itself down and begin to like the blood of the guardsmen, was a sight that would be burned into her memory.

She remembers hearing the men scream something when the animals saw the doctors try to get near again and how the animals became quiet.

They just stood there watching the doctors work and if a knight or a nurse so much as touched anything like a knife a dog or a cat would be next to them in a second.

Ever vigilant ever watchful.

It wasn't until some of the men that called themselves, the twenty-fifth and part of the one hundred and eight and what was left of the fifty-second arrived that the animals saw what they considered their equals.

Now the yard was split in two, but that was the thing when a guardsman was capable of actually walking.

The man would walk into the yard and sleep with the animals, muskets in hand, seeing the men surrounded by the dangerous creatures sleeping peacefully was something akin to wonder.

It was in one of Michaels moment of weakness that a knight saw him, sleeping at the side of several giant moles and fire salamanders. The guard was only slightly behind him and with them their animals.

''It's like he's alone, even amongst the wild men,'' Elizabeth said that day.

Now the servants were forced to feed them all or was it the servants made the meals and the men took the food and ate it with the animals.

Those with families either left to go back to them or sent for them to be brought to them.

But those who had lost everything, only the guard remained and sadly that's where they stayed.

To some it was a blessing, they had found wives after a guard's woman got pregnant and with the woman was an ever loyal friend, their animals.

Brothers that would die for them without question.

However others grew within the guard and could only be at home with the guard, either their families were now gone, leaving them as the last of their families bloodline or they had been so marked by war, that they couldn't join regular people again.

Tristanian school of magic][


	7. Chapter 7

If there was ever a school made for bastards and disappointments.

Tristanian School of Magic was it and for that reason, it was one of the calmest.

Lords, Dukes and whatever never visited the place, they had no reason to.

Yet it was for this reason, that the servants could walk around freely, without ever having to worry about some noble showing up and….

It's better not to talk about it.

Where the firstborns and immediate eirs would learn spells they could wield with their wands, the students here learned to make trinkets and magic tools, something to make the students use, so they wouldn't be a bother.

The embarrassments of their families.

It was because of this reason that not one of the students had a larger than world attitude and the same reason, no one in the staff felt that they were in any danger around the students.

Louise de la Valliere, stood nervously in the headmaster's office her familiar Saito stood there alone looking around like a child that didn't know where he was.

''This is a problem Louise'' the headmaster said.

''You're already engaged and summoning a commoner is an issue, especially considering he's a man.'' The look the headmaster gave Saito was one of pitty.

''Young man we can give you work and teach you about the world here and its costumes, but you won't be able to stay with the girl….. Normally this wouldn't be an issue, but, you don't need to know.''

Saito was about to say something only for him to look into the headmaster's eyes and understood that there were things that shouldn't be talked about.

For the following months the two would learn to use magic tools and create new machines, however when Louise left for the holidays, Saito saw that almost no other student left.

Two years later the two would part ways and Saito would go and start a small business and Louise would leave to get married. The two would meet again but that's a story for another day.

[Speech change Michael]

Michael woke up to the sound of a crow yelling in his ear, the thing had a letter tied to its leg.

He smiled and took a sheet of paper and began to write a letter to Elizabeth, he closed it and wrote another one for Tiffania.

He rose from his seat and looked for a single guard one he knew personally when he saw the man he only said ''I need a ride''

The man looked at him and understood that no questions should be asked, but he didn't care and asked it anyway. ''Si?''

''I'm burying one of many sins'' was all that Michael said.

No one said anything, but the guard just sat on the ground and tighten their grips on their muskets. ''At ease men, at ease,'' Michael said.

They flew to one of the few islands between Albion and Tristanian, the island was nothing but wet dirt and vanished when the tide grew even a little.

The waves were only kept away because of how the small bump didn't allow them to cover it, none the less the entire island was wet.

''I am engaged to a woman, she's not a bad person. In fact, she's wonderful, even when she's alone she smiles and has her family pride''Wales said with a pained smile, with him were three knights each wearing the emblem of a different family.

''You took a huge risk calling me here,'' Michael answered.

''They're preparing an all-out invasion, Somalia, and others but my position is extremely limited now.'' Wales continued.

''I would have thought you would want your kingdom back,'' Michaels said as the waves splashed on his armored boots.

''No... not anymore, not after everything that's happened."

" I know, you know everything my family and the nobles did and why the commoners risked being wiped out and why some nobles joined them.'' Wales said, letting the weight of his words linger, the knights with him lowering their heads slightly.

''Your mom and several of the noblewoman, would grave men and make them pleasure them in front of their wives and family. Any children born from the common people were killed at birth."

"A stain that never happened.''

''An entire area, was mysteriously erased. None of the papers showed any actions or misdeeds done by the Lord or the people."

"At least until the Guild D.D.D searched in a hidden section of a nearby cave.  
Everyone including the Lord and his infant son. With the sign Staines marked on them, their crime living with the people and allowing the classes to mix and learn from each other.''

''I heard that the castle had a hidden room…..they found …..there were some still alive and a friend of ours is watching over them,'' Michael said not daring to continue.

''And how long do you think I would have lived, everyone that so much as tried to fix things a little, was either killed or tortured. "

"My uncle was burned, heald, burned until there was nothing left but a blob, of the burned meet.''' Wales said, staring at the waves.

''I wanted to ask you something, even if you kill me. I had to do it face to face. That day, why did order your men to let me live.'' Wales said his voice was now a whisper.

''The people."

"All over Albion there were stories about how you played nobles into showing what monsters they were and that way being able to punish them. You were trying to help the people and fix some of the mess,''answered Michael.

''So what are you going to do now?''Michael asked Wales.

''Me I'm going to rebuild my family name, not my father's not my mothers, but my own. The men of Albion are dead.'' Wales said, moving his hands showing the knights behind him.

''Your sister is alive, she's been with one of the merchant guilds and I found the last surviving member of a …''Michael began only to stop and see Wales pained look.

''The men of Albion are dead and the past stays in the past,''Wales said while giving him his hand, they shook and both men went their separate ways.

Knowing that one day they would see each other again and have to explain why they both knew each other, beyond the level og hatred that should exist, but didn't.

[Albion]  
They arrived late and both men went their separate ways, the guardsmen returned to the infirmary and Michael did something he never did before, he went to his room.

There was a large mirror, it wasn't magical but, it allowed for a full body view.

Clink clank, the sound of leather straps being released and metal giving way. For the first time in years, Michael stood exposed to the world, for the first time in years the man stood separated from his armor.

There was a simple suit made for sleeping, it hung in his closet unused. As he walked out a maid dropped her basket and gasped and a boy ran into him as he ran away from other children. Michael just rubbed his hair and kept walking.

He stopped at a large door and saw Tiffania feeding the infants and smiled, he turned and found that Elizabeth had walked up to him and was stretching her hand to him.

She gasped and brought her hand back.

''Let's talk,'' Michael said.

Elizabeth walked quietly behind him, each step seemed to make more and more whispers spread around them. They stopped in their bedroom and the door was locked behind them.

Speech change Elizabeth]  
They looked at each other, she didn't know what to husband was always so aggressive and made sure that she laid even when the mood wasn't there.

''I know that you haven't left the mansion,'' Michael said to her.

She didn't say anything.

''Sorry for neglecting you so much, there's been so much work, hell there is still a lot, but I shouldn't have neglected you so much,'' he said.

''Do you want to see Albion? Go look at some of the church's new designs, see how the people are doing?'' he continued.

She didn't answer, everything was going dark. ''Why was he saying this? was she too old?"

"Did he want to get rid of her?" He could protect her and her daughter, all they had to do was keep quiet.

Elizabeth noticed he was still talking, but she couldn't hear him. Did she do something wrong?

Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder, Elizabeth gasped and noticed Double Hammer was holding her.

''Please don't leave me'' she said in a whisper, her vision became blurry and she found that she was crying.

''Please don't leave me,'' she repeated, louder and she found that she had thrown her hands around him and was now holding onto him tightly.

''Please don't leave me!'' she said as she finally broke down in his harms.

They stood there he held her in his arms as she cried and found that at one point they ended up on the floor, next to the bed.

He was still holding her in his arms, he felt warm

She could feel him patting her head, even as she sniffed and tried to hold back her tears.

''It's okay, I'm here. I won't leave you,'' he whispered in her ear.

Elizabeth fell asleep and he layed her down on the bed, despite being a full grown woman, she looked small in his arms, every time he tried to leave the bed she would unconsciously tighten her grip.

''Eisenhorn, can you hear me,'' Michael said.

''Yeah'' a voice answered inside his head.

''I need you to look'' Michael began only to have Eisenhorn cuoffhim off.

''I'm not looking into your women. There's something big going on, both in Albion and everywhere else.'' Eisenhorn said

''...I see.'' Michael said

He gave Elizabeth a kiss on her forehead and pulled himself away from her grip, it was time to speak to the people she brought with her.

[Speech change Eisenhorn]  
A man sat in an empty mansion, the knights, and the lord that at one point called it home were gone now, taken prisoners by the queen's personal guard.

He would have been sitting in complete darkness had it not been for the one single candle in front of him.

He sat there quietly, ever alert but somewhat distracted.

It didn't make any sense. All investigations and for that matter, every other investigator turned up with the same conclusion.

No one had given the order to attack Albion and even if the orders had been given years prior, then the people that had received the orders…..simply ignored them.

Then why was Albion attacked?

No he knew it made too much sense and that's what troubled him so much, but for them to have gone so far….that thought alone was troubling.

He briefly turned and looked at the bed and for a brief moment he considered getting some slep but chose not to.

This was much more important.

He picked up the last three letters and noticed something he hadn't seen before. It was small, but it was there.

A simple five-pointeded star, the nobles drew thece things for a reason, there was power in those drawings.

The question was what did it mean.

He turned to look at the bed again and noticed that the one and only other person in the mansion was still asleep.

She had large breasted, long black hair and dark eyes. In all honesty, had he been slightly younger, he would have taken full advantage of his situation.

But that was the thing wasn't, this wasn't Elder Tales and he wouldn't repeat the crimes of the past.

The girl was from one of the best magic schools, a maid. The Lord took a liking to her….and brought her back with him.

The fact that the Queen was actually doing her job, saved the girl, because sure as hell he couldn't risk his mission being compromised.

Right now, she was sleeping naked, using his coat as a blanket.

''Had he been younger'' he thought to himself.

The girl had clunto him, thinking he had saved her, what brought on that idea, he honestly didn't care.

She was a pain, rather good looking one but a pain nonetheless, for over three hours she cried in his arms until she cried herself to sleep.

The girl was innocent and monsters like him didn't deserve someone like her.

Not after everything he had done, hell Double Hammer had two women and he hadn't touched either one of them.

His mind began to wonder and for a brief instan, Eisenhorn had a rather sentimental thought. He got up and stood at the bed's side.

''Sleep well Siesta, tomorrow I'm taking you back to that school, you'll be safe there and I can meet Elizabeth's daughter."

"You owe me for this Double Hammer.''Eisenhorn said as he sat on the floor and let himself drift to sleep.

He began to dream Eisenhorn hated dreaming, every time he slept now he was forced to see the crimes he had committed.

The rapes and deaths of the people of the land. Double Hammer beating him within an inch of his life and throwing him into that pit.

He remembered having his arms and legs broken, held in place by heavy chains when he was first thrown in there the pit was dry, clean and if a person could stand some dirt then they could eat in it.

By the time he died, it stank wet and he was tossed in there more than once.

And he had to die eighteen times before he even started thinking about all the things he had done to the people.

Eisenhorn could still remember the look of fear in the people's eyes and the shock when he kneeled and begged for forgiveness.

He dreamt about the lie the man and the few that had joined him had spread, that a spell had been cast on the Adventurers, that was the reason the Adventurers were acting the way they were.

The nightmare only got worse, he remembered the look of shock when the Adventurers had betrayed Michael and abandoned him to fight those monsters all alone.

He and a small group went to get Michael out of there, they found the Royal Guards armor broken and Michael half insane but still fighting.

The young girl was just smiling, she knew Double Hammer was getting tired, not physically but spiritually and psychologically. Michael was truly dying….

Eisenhorn gasped and woke, he was covered in sweat, for some reason he was cold, as he looked around he noticed that the sun had not even come out. Eisenhorn hated dreaming'


End file.
